Book One: Opposites Attract
by Nachzes Black-Rider
Summary: When Mokuba faints in the middle of school, and a revelation about his health comes into view, will Seto be able to deal with the added complication to his life? And what will happen when Yuugi&co. find out? JouXSeto YAOI later. !2 SEQUELS PLANNED!
1. Chapter 1: 'Please'

**Lieh:** ::reads fic:: Ho boy, has she got it coming to her…. Well, since Nachzes is in Thrain training right now, I'm introducing this thing, okay. ::grins around at everybody::

**Summary: **

When Mokuba Kaiba faints in the middle of school, and a devastating revelation concerning his health comes into view, will Seto be able to deal with the added complication to his already problematical life? And what will happen when Yuugi and the gang find out?

**Disclaimer:**

I don't own _Yu-Gi-Oh!_ or its characters. If I did, it would be…very different.

**Warnings: **

Mentions of rape and abuse.

**Author's Notes (A/N's):**

**1)** When people are yelling, the words will appear in CAPITAL LETTERS, when people are being sarcastic, it'll show up inside single quotes (apostrophise)

**2)** "…" People speaking, or a quote

**3)** '…' Thoughts and/or a voice in someone's head, a sound, or written words

**4) **Memories are in _italics_, as are any 'stressed' words and/or syllables. If something is 'stressed' in the flashback, then it will be in plain text, because _italics_ on top of the _italics_ cancels the _italics_ out, now, are we clear?

**5)** At the end, anything that has a (number) beside it will be translated, anything with a /number/ beside it will be explained.

**6)** '/_flash_/' indicates a change in time. If it is important, in between the two '/'s, it will say how much time passes in **bold** print, instead of '_flash_'. In a flashback or memory, the word 'flash' will be in plain text. See the _italics_ rule above.

**7)** Japanese names and ages.

**Shattered Masks, Healed Hearts**

**Book One****: Opposites Attract**

**Chapter One****: 'Please'**

**By: Nachzes-Black Rider**

**--Seto POV—**

I was in Math class when it happened. Math. Probably the most boring class in the history of the world. Now, don't get me wrong, I like math; but, honestly, I'm _at least _five grade levels above them all, so it doesn't excite me at all.

Sensei (1) was giving a lecture to the class about the Pythagorean Theorem, and hypotenuses, and crap like that, when my cell phone rang. Slightly annoyed, I grabbed it; glancing at the caller ID as I did so, and feeling a wave of foreboding wash over me. It was Mokuba's school. 'It probably isn't important at all,' I thought to myself, biting my lower lip nervously. 'Nothing at all. Just some trivial thing like permission for a field trip he forgot to tell me about. Yes, that's it.' I pressed the 'talk' button and put the flip phone to my ear, catching sensei's glare out of the corner of my eyes. "Moshi moshi (2)—"

"Kaiba-san (3)," the teacher began, but I silenced her with a cold stare, and turned my attention back to the person on the other end of the line.

"Sorry about that, I said, "but I'm in the middle of a class here…can you call me back?"

"I'm afraid not, Kaiba-sama (4)," the other said nervously—she sounded like an office secretary. "You see, Mokuba—"

"Yes? What about him?" The whole class was looking at me curiously now, wondering what I was talking about, and to whom. I glanced at them to let them know that I saw them, my icy sapphire eyes flashing dangerously, and they turned back to their worksheets as if they had been working on solving how '_a'_ squared plus '_b'_ squared equals '_c'_ squared all day. "Well," I snapped impatiently, tapping the fingers of my free hand on the rough wooden top of my school desk.

"He's—he's in the hospital, Kaiba-sama."

"_WHAT_?!"

Everyone looked up again, and the teacher glared at me.

"Kaiba-san, I am well aware of your situation; however, if you cannot manage to keep your voice down—"

"SHUT _UP_!" I yelled, and then winced as the entire class, as one, drew in breath, expecting me to get kicked out of class, but the teacher seemed too shocked to speak.

"…He fainted in the middle of class and they tried to revive him, but he wouldn't wake up. He's in the Domino hospital, but they want to run some tests, and they might have to transfer him to…. Kaiba-sama? Kaiba-sama, are you there?"

I had dropped my cell phone. "Oh, Kami-sama (5)," I muttered disbelievingly, still in shock, staring blankly at the floor, my mind beginning to go numb. I could sense all the other kid's stares on me as I sat there, gaping at the hated piece of black plastic and electrical wiring, still with a voice crackling over the line. 'It's finally happened…Mokuba is dying….'

"Iie (6)," I whisper. "Oh, Kami-sama. No. _No_!"

"What's wrong, 'Kaiba'?" I made out the voice of the Mutt, loud and boisterous, over the dull buzz in my head. A knot formed in my throat; I couldn't speak. My eyes burned, but stayed dry. "Your precious company lose some stock?" Pain lanced through my heart; in my numbness, in my state of complete and utter shock, I had dropped my defences. A tear pricked at the corner of my eyes, threatening to overflow.

'This isn't happening,' I thought desperately.

The single, crystalline tear traced its way down my pale cheek.

'But it is.'

"Well, Kaiba?" The voice again; it was mocking me, taunting me. My heart seared in pain again. Burning. The tear trembled on my chin before falling onto my hand—clenched into a fist on my knee, fabric waded up into a knot in it. I un-clenched it and smoothed out the dark blue material. 'God, I feel so numb.'

"Jönöchi…" Yuugi's voice broke in on my thoughts; it was hesitant, almost fearful. "Don't—"

"I need to go," I said suddenly, standing up and almost blacking out from the sudden height change. The teacher opened her mouth, as if to protest, but took one look at my pale face; at my contracted irises; my mouth, pressed into a firm, tight line, and closed it; then nodded.

"Alright, Mr. Kaiba."

I bowed to her and grabbed my stuff; shoving it unceremoniously into my metal briefcase. I tightened my grip on its cold grey handle, struggling to control my emotions, and then rushed out of the room. I left my cell phone on the floor behind me.

**--Jö POV—**

I was just sitting there in Math class, when it took place. I wasn't paying attention at all; Math isn't my best class—when am I going to need to know about how to calculate what the diagonal-line-thing-y of a triangle is anyways? Anyways, as I was saying, I was just sitting there, staring out the window, when someone's cell phone went off. Only one person would dare leave their cell on during class. Kaiba. The entire student body turned in their seats and stared at him as he took it out of his pocket and checked the caller ID. All of a sudden, his face paled, and he clenched his teeth, kneading his lower lip as he did so. Kaiba looked…I dunno…scared? He flipped the phone open and put it to his ear, glancing at Sensei as he did so. She didn't look too happy, that's for sure.

"Moshi moshi—"

"Kaiba-san," the teacher said, face flushed in anger. Kaiba just looked at her, and she shut right up; everyone was watching them by that point, even Anzu.

"Sorry about that, but I'm in the middle of a class here," he paused, contemplating the situation; "can you call me back?"

There was a murmur on the other end, then:

"Yes? What about him?" Kaiba's voice sounded strained, tense. Again, scared. He glanced up and glared at everyone ogling at him; they turned back to their work as if they had been doing nothing at all, and a few whistled innocently. He rolled his eyes and his long, slender fingers tapped on the top of his desk impatiently. "Well," he snapped, loosing his patience, and clenching his hand tighter around the cell.

"_WHAT_?!" He yelled; out of the blue, and everyone jumped, and then fixed their gaze once more upon him. The teacher whipped around and began speaking very fast, but was cut off by Kaiba, whose eyes were flashing dangerously. Ouch. Bad sign.

"Kaiba-san, I am well aware of your situation; however, if you cannot manage to keep your voice down—"

"SHUT _UP_!" He yelled, and everyone drew in breath, shocked. Even the teacher just stared at him; now this was a side of Kaiba that nobody had ever seen.

There was this really long pause as Kaiba listened to what the person on the other line was saying, and then, suddenly, all of the blood drained from his face. His grip on the phone went lax, and the object clattered to the classroom floor, spinning a little on the wooden floor boards. "Oh, Kami-sama," he mumbled, his eyes just staring blankly at the phone on the ground. "Iie." He moaned low in his throat—scarily low, I'd never heard a sound like that come out of anyone's mouth, let alone Kaiba's—and a pained look flickered over his features. "Oh, Kami-sama. No. _No_!" His hands dropped to his lap, and they clenched, fabric from his school uniform wadding up in them.

"What's wrong, 'Kaiba'?" I taunted, trying to break the uneasy silence that had fallen over the class, "your precious company lose some stock?"

That was the wrong thing to say, I knew the moment I left my mouth, because Kaiba's face crumpled, and I could tell that he was trying hard not to cry. But, I couldn't stop then. The whole class was had turned their attention from Kaiba to ME. And I had to say something, so I did.

"Well, Kaiba?"

He sucked in breath, running his fingers through his hair with one hand, the other clenching tighter around the material of his pants. And, before my very eyes, a single, diamond-like, shimmering pearly tear trickled down Kaiba's cheek. My jaw dropped.

"Jönöchi, don't…." Yuugi whispered, staring at me, his wide, violet eyes disbelieving—how could I be so cruel? Kaiba's hand unclenched, and he smoothed the fabric out, then looked up, face perfectly composed.

"I need to go," he said suddenly, standing up, and closing his eyes as if he was steadying himself so as not to faint. I guess it makes sense. The guy is all leg, and he doesn't look like he gets much nourishment, so, it would probably feel strange to stand up so quickly. Everyone glanced at the sensei, who looked as if she was about to refuse, but then she glanced at his face—still white as a sheet—and nodded.

"Alright, Mr. Kaiba."

He blinked, and opened his heavy-metal briefcase, shoving all of his school stuff in higgledy-piggledy, and slammed it shut, gripping the handle tighter as his face screwed up with emotion; and then, without a further word, he ran from the classroom. I couldn't help but notice that he left his cell phone on the floor.

--**Seto POV**—

I ran through the hall, and when I say 'ran', I mean _ran_. My briefcase bumped against my leg painfully, the sharp metal corner scraping the skin beneath my uniform, tearing the fabric. I didn't even notice then. A trickle of crimson blood leaked slowly from the cut as my feet pounded along the hardwood floor.

'Must…get…to…Mokuba.'

A dry sob leapt up in my swollen throat; my breathing hitched; I kept running, panic threatening to drown me, it was so intense. Wild, half-formed images, no, _memories_, flashed through my head.

_A car, speeding along the highway; _

_A scream;_

_A huge oak tree, getting closer and closer;_

…_Now a horrible spinning sensation—faster and faster;_

_A voice, a high-pitched, panicked voice: "Turn the car, James! Turn the car! It's going to hit the boys!"_

…_Wailing in the seat beside me…._

_A harsh, shattering 'crunch'._

_Being thrown forward in my seat, the harsh edge of me seatbelt cutting into my chest, sending sharp pain through my upper body…._

_Wrenching the seatbelt off and leaping out of my seat;_

"_DADDY /1/!" _

_Blood…blood everywhere…. Flashing lights…blue, red, blue, red…._

/flash/

"_Seto, you're parents are dead." _

"_NOOOO! OTOU-SAN (7)! NOOOO!"_

_Struggling, running _

/flash/

_Curling up in a corner and trembling uncontrollably…shivering…'I'm so cold, Mommy. Please don't go….' Lowering the shard of glass to my inner-wrist, trembling so violently I can't see straight; vision blurred by tears; screaming…._

/flash/

"_God, it hurts…." _

"_What hurts, Seto-chan? Your hand?"_

"_My…heart…."_

/flash/

"_Where are Mommy and Daddy?"_

_A hollow voice answering, my own—the beginning of my Mask starting to form. "They're gone, Mokuba. They're gone, and they're never coming back."_

"_What?"_

"_They're dead, little brother."_

/flash/

"…_We're all alone…."_

"_No, we're not. We have each other."_

"_That's right, Mokie. And no one can ever tear us apart."_

/flash/

"_If you don't obey me, Seto, I'll be forced to…discipline you."_

_A sullen voice replying. "I don't care, anything would be better than this."_

"_Then…I would have to convince you otherwise, wouldn't I."_

"_And how are you going to do that?"_

"_I could…discipline your dear little brother."_

"_You can't hurt Mokuba!"_

"_Oh, but I can. …Unless, that is, you give me what I want."_

_I lick suddenly dry lips. "And…what is it that you want from me?"_

_A cruel chuckle that will haunt me for the rest of my life. "Oh, but Seto-chan, I want _you_."_

_Searching for some way out…finding none…finally; "Okay."_

_A clucking tongue. "Tut, tut, but that won't do, Seto-chan, will it?" A harsh, callused, hammy hand smoothing over my hair. I shudder ever-so-slightly, and close my eyes lest he see them fill with tears of betrayal and guilt and shame. "Since you…'convinced' me to adopt you and your little brother, you are now legally my son. Call me…'Father'."_

_A flash of Mokuba on the ground, whipped, beaten. _

"_Alright…Father."_

_Another sadistic chuckle._

"_Good boy, Seto-chan."_

_A single tear traces its way down my cheek as his hand strays lower down my back— towards the waistline of my jeans._

/flash/

"_No, no, not now, please, no…."_

"_But, Seto-chan, don't you like to be touched?"_

"_No, no, please no…."_

_A dangerous purr. "I told you to call me 'Father', Seto-chan."_

"_Please no, please—Father, please."_

"_You know you like it, Seto-chan."_

"_No, no…please don't. Father, please!"_

"_Hush, boy."_

"_No, no, please—"_

_A harsh slap across my cheek; stinging pain. "QUIET!"_

_A few minutes pass. One last try. Softly, now. Pleading. Begging. "Please—" A scream wrenches itself out of my throat, tearing the soft tissue, as he drives in hard…._

/flash/

_'God, it hurts….'_

_'_Poor little baby Seto; can't he even stand a bit of pain?_'_

_'Make it stop…please….'_

_'_Aw…poor baby._'_

'_Please….'_

You know you like it._'_

_'No, no, please….'_

_'_Filth._'_

_'No.'_

_'_Abomination._'_

_'No.'_

_'_Weakling.'

_'No…no…. Leave me alone. …Please, just go.'_

_'_But I can't go, little Seto. I'm a part of you. I'm who you are._'_

_'No…no, you _can't_ be!'_

_'_Oh, but I am._'_

_'No''_

_'_Foolish boy._'_

_'No._'

_'_Poor little Seto, just a little toy for his step-father to play with at night…._'_

_'No, no please…stop….'_

_A cruel laugh._

_'Please….'_

_'_Failure._'_

_'No….'_

_'_You swore to protect him, but you've condemned him to a lifetime of misery. You caused it, Seto Kaiba. _You_._'_

_'No.'_

_'_You know it's true, little Kaiba._'_

_'Don't call me that!'_

_'_Why not, it's your name now, isn't it? And all because you had to prove that you were the best._'_

_'No….'_

_'_Yes, little Kaiba. Yes._'_

_'No…no…please, just leave me alone….'_

_The laugh again._

_'Please….'_

**To be continued****….**

**Translations, End Notes, Etc.:**

(1) 'Teacher'

(2) 'Hello'

(3) '-san' is a Japanese ending commonly used to someone. Normally, the teacher would say 'last name-chan', but, as that implies less respect than '-san', and Kaiba is the CEO of a company, I used '-san'.

(4) Another respectful ending, implies more respect than '-san'.

(5) Japanese equivalent of 'God'.

(6) 'No'.

(7) 'Father' or 'dad'.

/1/ He talks in English some of the time, because his dad, I say, was European, and taught him (and had started to teach Mokuba) how to speak, read, write, etc. English. 'Daddy' is sort of his 'little-kid's name' for his father. Sort of like 'Kiddo', but reversed situation.

**Lieh:** AAARGH! If they have an 'indent' button, it should at least _work_! I mean, I go through the _whole thing _putting in five spaces where paragraphs start because tab didn't show up when I uploaded it, and then that didn't work, so I had to spend _another_ 5-10 minutes using the 'indent' button, which pushed the whole paragraph in, but at least my set-up would work, but _noooo_, instead, IT DOESN'T SHOW UP EITHER! So, I had to change my _whole_ layout, and put in eight hyphens, which, I bet won't show up either. ::breathing hard::. Dammit, it didn't work! …Oh well; I'll find another way…. Come on…WORK, DAMN YOU! AAAARGH! Um…so…review, 'cause it makes Nachzes happy, and…yeah. Heh heh.


	2. Chapter 2: Run

**Nachzes:** A re-load, 'cause the other version _really_ sucked. You'd better kiss up to me _good_ for this, Willowwind.

**Summary: **

When Mokuba Kaiba faints in the middle of school, and a devastating revelation concerning his health comes into view, will Seto be able to deal with the added complication to his already problematical life? And what will happen when Yuugi and the gang find out?

**Disclaimer:**

I don't own _Yu-Gi-Oh!_ or its characters. If I did, it would be…very different.

**Warnings: **

Mentions of rape and abuse.

**Author's Notes (A/N's):**

**1)** When people are yelling, the words will appear in CAPITAL LETTERS, when people are being sarcastic, it'll show up inside single quotes (apostrophise)

**2)** "…" People speaking, or a quote

**3)** '…' Thoughts and/or a voice in someone's head, a sound, or written words

**4) **Memories are in _italics_, as are any 'stressed' words and/or syllables. If something is 'stressed' in the flashback, then it will be in plain text, because _italics_ on top of the _italics_ cancels the _italics_ out, now, are we clear?

**5)** At the end, anything that has a (number) beside it will be translated, anything with a /number/ beside it will be explained.

**6)** '/_flash_/' indicates a change in time. If it is important, in between the two lines, it will say how much time passes in **bold** print, instead of '_flash_'. In a flashback or memory, the word 'flash' will be in plain text. See the _italics_ rule above.

**7)** Japanese names and ages.

**Shattered Masks, Healed Hearts**

**Book One****: Opposites Attract**

**Chapter Two****: Run**

**By: Nachzes-Black Rider**

**--Seto POV--**

Feet pounding down the hall….

The feeling of adrenaline coursing through my veins….

Pain lacing up my leg from the gash in my upper-calf where my briefcase slammed into it. Blood seeps slowly out of the cut and soaks into the surrounding fabric. The skin around the area is beginning to bruise; turning a deep, blue-ish-purple shade….

**--Jö POV--**

After Kaiba ran out of the room the class just sat there in complete stunned silence for a while before breaking out into full-fledged chaos. It was pandemonium. Kids all around were excitedly comparing notes on what could have caused the CEO to suddenly bolt from the classroom like a bat out of Hell. Some people—the ones nearest the door—said that he had literally torn through the hallway; "and man oh man, could that boy _fly_" they all said. And, of course, Kaiba never did drop his emotionless façade, so the whole deal of the mysterious phone call had the whole class in an uproar. It seemed that I was the only one who had noticed and/or remembered that he had dropped his cell phone on the floor. As I stared at the black plastic gadget, almost as if my gaze were a charm, it began to ring. Well, vibrate and rattle against the desk leg and the floor, really, since I couldn't hear the ringing over the din everyone was making. Thinking that no one would notice if I reached over and grabbed it, I did so, and checked the caller ID briefly, wondering who was calling my arch-nemesis.

'Tokyo Hospital' read the little blue screen.

**--Yuugi POV--**

I remember we were just starting second-last period, Mathematics, when Kaiba-kun's (1) cell phone went off. I jumped in my seat, the No. 2 pencil I held in my hand leaving a short, dark line on my worksheet over top of the doodle I was making, the tip of the lead breaking off and scattering tiny silver-grey slivers of graphite on my paper. Turning, I managed to catch a brief glimpse of his face as he checked the caller ID, his already pale complexion turning nearly stark-white. He seemed to be holding an inner battle with himself as he stared at the small black plastic gadget in his hand before he blinked and nodded slightly to himself, flipping the cell open and raising it to one ear.

"Moshi moshi—"

"Kaiba-san," the teacher interrupted angrily from where she stood by the blackboard—I noticed a jagged white line at the end of her _m_ in _Pythagorean Theorem_. Obviously she had been caught unawares by the sudden _ring_ing sound as well. Kaiba-kun glanced up at her and fixed her with a slight _gaze_ before turning his attention back to the caller on the other end of the line.

"Sorry about that," he said, "but I'm in the middle of a class here. Can you call me back?"

There was a pause, filled in slightly by the teacher picking her lecture up from where she had left off, and then Kaiba-kun's voice broke into the quiet again, and some kids turned around again, wanting to see what was going on.

"Yes? What about him?" His voice was slightly more emotional that usual. Was that fear in his normally impassive tone? He looked up and frowned at the people watching him. His pale fingers drummed the wooden top of the desk nervously. "Well?!" He snapped, loosing whatever patience he had still held with the other person and tightening his grip on the phone.

"_WHAT_?!"

That was Kaiba-kun.

The teacher whipped around again, face red, pointer clutched like a weapon in her hand. "Kaiba-san," she began, her voice quick and clipped, "I am well aware of your situation; however, if you cannot manage to keep your voice down—"

Kaiba-kun lost it completely.

"SHUT _UP_!" He roared. Everyone jumped, and then resumed staring avidly at him. He glared daggers at the teacher for a few more seconds before resuming listening to his contact—whoever it was.

A long pause, then Kaiba-kun's face suddenly turned the colour of flour and there was a _clatter_ as his phone hit the floor. He put a shaking hand to his forehead and stared blankly at the spot of black against the floor. "Oh, Kami-sama, iie. Oh Kaimi-sama…no…. NO!" He cried, both hands dropping to his knees and tightening into fists.

"What's wrong," Jö suddenly broke in, his voice one of fake concern. My head snapped up to look at him, my eyes wide. What was he _doing_?! "'Kaiba'? Did your 'precious company' lose some stock?"

Everyone's eyes shifted from Kaiba-kun to Jö, and he blinked, stealing a glance at Kaiba-kun out of the corner of his eye and swallowing.

"Well, Kaiba?" He asked, somewhat lamely.

Kaiba-kun breathed in deeply, the sound loud in the silent classroom, and ran his fingers through his hair. His other hand clenched tighter around the fabric of his uniform. A single tear traced it's way down his cheek, and I found tears of my own welling up in my eyes as my friend's jaw dropped, his expression one of complete disbelief.

"Jönöchi…" I whispered, my voice trembling, as the water level in my eyes rose, my vision blurring, "don't."

Suddenly, Kaiba-kun stood up; his face perfectly composed once more.

"I need to go," he said. The teacher pursed her lips, as if considering telling him 'no'. I looked at her, willing her to allow him to leave. She sighed.

"Alright, Mr. Kaiba."

He gripped the silver handle of his briefcase very tightly indeed, and then ran out of the classroom as if trying to flee from some-sort of presence.

It was completely silent for a few moments before the classroom exploded, the students turning the stillness into complete and utter anarchy. All around, people were yelling theories left and right about what could have made the CEO run like that. They ranged from the marginally believable—an urgent business meeting had come up that he had forgotten about—to the laughable—a new Blue-Eyes card being created. However, I couldn't accept any of these as truth, mainly because how would a _business meeting_ make the so-called 'cold-hearted' teen's face turn chalk white?

Jö was staring at something on the floor, a look on his face as if he was contemplating something, and then he suddenly leapt up and vaulted over a chair to grab something—a something a realised, moments later, to be Kaiba-kun's cell phone. He checked the caller ID, and I realized that the phone must have rung, although no one could possibly have heard it over the tumult of noise.

Quickly, he glanced at the caller ID—and froze.

**--Seto POV--**

Panting, gasping; trying to suck more air into burning lungs….

Sweat trickling down my forehead…stinging in my eyes….

Hair clinging to the back of my neck; my school uniform sticking to my back….

Breathe in one two three; breathe out one two three….

'Run faster!'

Strides lengthening…the doors in sight...I drop the heavy briefcase held in my right hand to the floor—'_CRASH_'! …Wrenching the doors open and dashing outside, arms and legs pumping simultaneously…I'm running so fast I could swear I was flying….

'Faster!'

Pick up the pace; hurtling along the streets; the flash of a red cross /1/ out of the corner of my eye….

'Almost there!'

Exhaustion is beginning to override the panic…seeping into my bones…'NO! Can't…stop….'

I'm beginning to slow down, I can feel it….

'NO!'

The hospital looms above me, huge and grey. I shove the door open and sprint into the emergency room. A pair of paramedics rushes past me wheeling a gurney….

'Where is he?! Where _is_ he?!'

I look frantically left and right for something…anything…!

'Please God, just give me a sign…!'

"Are you alright, Sir?"

Panic is rising in my chest…I'm beginning to hyperventilate…taking in air much too fast, my chest burning, searing….

'Where where where…?!'

"Sir, daijöbö-ka (2)?"

'Where is he?! Where's Mokuba?! Where's my brother?!'

Breathing fast…too fast…'Can't breathe…. Mokuba!'

"Sir!"

Inoutinoutinout….

"SIR!"

"Mokuba…."

Blackness.

**To be Continued….**

**Translations, End Notes, Etc.:**

(1) '-kun' is an ending used pretty loosely. It's what Yuugi (always thinking that Seto is, or course, part of his little gang of friends that he does) calls Seto.

(2) Are you alright/is everything okay?

/1/ I couldn't do a green 'H' like they do in Canada (where I'm from) 'cause in Japan…they wouldn't _use_ an 'H'. So I used a red cross, instead.

**Nachzes:** Tell all your friends about it so they can review, too. )


	3. Chapter 3: Message One

**Nachzes:** Did anyone else besides me notice that in the last chapter, Seto's POV was in present tense, while all the other times it—and the others'—are always in past tense? Well, you'll find out soon enough why, so if anyone wondered…you'll discover the reasoning behind it soon enough.

**IMPORTANT NOTE:**

**If anyone didn't read the re-loaded version of Chapter Two, please go back and do so, because it will be important later on. It's also better, and longer, _and_ contains Yuugi's POV.**

**Summary: **

When Mokuba Kaiba faints in the middle of school, and a devastating revelation concerning his health comes into view, will Seto be able to deal with the added complication to his already problematical life? And what will happen when Yuugi and the gang find out?

**Disclaimer:**

::snorts:: If I owned _Yu-Gi-Oh!_ I wouldn't have to write fanfiction to show my views—it would be on the show, and therefore it would be rated _R_ or _NC-17_.

**Warnings:**

Future yaoi (JöXSeto).

**Author's Notes (A/N's):**

**1)** When people are yelling, the words will appear in CAPITAL LETTERS, when people are being sarcastic, it'll show up inside single quotes (apostrophise)

**2)** "…" People speaking, or a quote

**3)** '…' Thoughts and/or a voice in someone's head, or written words

**4) **Memories are in _italics_, as are any 'stressed' words and/or syllables. If something is 'stressed' in the flashback, then it will be in plain text, because _italics_ on top of the _italics_ cancels the _italics_ out, now, are we clear?

**5)** At the end, anything that has a (number) beside it will be translated; anything with a /number/ beside it will be explained.

**6)** '/_flash_/' indicates a change in time—if it is important, in between the two '/'s, it will say how much time passes in **bold** print, instead of '_flash_'. In a flashback or memory, the word 'flash' will be in plain text. See the _italics_ rule above.

**7)** Japanese names and ages.

**Shattered Masks, Healed Hearts**

**Book One****: Opposites Attract**

**Chapter Three****: Message One**

**By: Nachzes-Black Rider**

**--Jö POV—**

I stared at the phone in my hand wordlessly, the small plastic object vibrating in my hand as it rang again, the sound lost in the tumult of noise around me. It tickled.

Dimly I realized that the phone had stopped ringing—the voicemail must have picked the call up.

In my sub-consciousness I noticed someone standing beside me, staring at the glowing blue 'Tokyo Hospital' that was slowly fading away. I glimpsed a shock of black hair with crimson highlights. Blond bangs flopped into the person's eyes.

It was Yuugi.

He looked up at me, violet eyes large and brimming with worry. Soundlessly, he mouthed—or maybe he spoke, I couldn't tell—"What's going on?"

I didn't know.

But I _did _know I needed to find out who that message was from and what it was.

I glanced at sensei. She was too busy trying to calm down the class to notice if two of her worst students disappeared. I looked at Yuugi and jerked my head towards the door. He nodded.

Silently, we slipped out of the classroom and into the hall.

"What do you think _that_ was all about?" I asked. Yuugi shook his head.

"I don't know, but I think that the phone call could give us some idea," he said. I nodded my agreement.

"Yeah. Good thinking, Yuugi." We both looked down at the phone in my hand. Slowly, I raised one finger to hover over the 'messages' button…and lowered it.

"_You have one message_. _Message one:_"

There was a whirring sound, and a mechanical female-sounding voice emitted from the tiny speaker.

"_Hello, Mr. Kaiba. This is the Tokyo Hospital calling to inform you that the patient Mokuba Kaiba has been transferred to the Kyoto National Hospital in Kyoto, Japan_ /1/_. Arigatö _(1)

"_Ja ne_ (2)"

_Click_.

Yuugi and I stared at the object in my hand, mouths hanging open in shock. Suddenly, Yuugi gasped and tugged on my sleeve, pointing at an object lying on the ground by the exit doors.

A metal briefcase—open, it's contents lying scattered around on the tiles around it, a long, shiny scratch on the linoleum where it had probably struck the floor, one of the burnished silver sides dented, and one corner had some reddish-brown coating on it that looked suspiciously like dried blood.

Kaiba's briefcase.

**To be continued….**

**Translations, End Notes, Etc..**

(1) Arigatö means 'thank you' in Japanese.

(2) This is the way to say goodbye during a telephone conversation.

/1/ Kyoto is a city in Japan. I just chose a random one—so sue me.

**Nachzes:** Yeah, short, I know. ::shifty eyes around, especially at Willowwind:: No…I'm not stalling…. ::evil laughter:: I've just extended the deadline for you all discovering what the Hell happens to Mokuba _TWO MORE_ chapters. MUAHAHAHAHA! (For those who were wondering, I originally had it planned for this chapter, then it moved to the next chapter, and now it's scheduled to debut in Chapter 5.)

**Lieh:** ::sweatdrops::

**Kaiba:** ::sighs::

**Review Responses:**

**storyfreak** Heh, heh, heh. If you only knew…. ::evil laughter::

**totalyfab** ::grin:: I torture you so so that you will read the next chapter. MUAHAHAHAA! I CONTROL YOU ALL! Err…::sweatdrops:: yeah.

**Nenya85:** OH MY GOSH! YOU ACTUALLY REVIEWED! ::squeals and throws herself at the authoress:: MY HERO! ::blushes:: So far, yours has been the most insightful review I've gotten on this fic ::hands cookies and a mini BEWD jet plane::. Thanks!

**Meiharu:** I like to keep all you fellow authors/authoresses hanging in suspense so that you'll come back and read other fics and chapters. It's nice to know you read my other fics—I got your reviews, and I appreciate knowing that you really think that my work is that good.

**Willowwind:** ::ducks her hikari's best friend's fists:: DON'T HURT ME! DAMN IT! YOU ALREDY KNOW WHAT HAPPENS! GO 'WAY!

**Mooguri Klaine:** No prob! Thanks for reviewing mine! ::grins evilly:: Did you really think that anything written by me—the master of angst and Seto/Mokuba/Ryö/Yami Bakura torture—would write anything _innocent_? ::giggles:: It's Seto's own damn fault he's always gettin' raped anyways. He's too dang sexy for his own good.

**Rosabell:** OMFG! Your first review in a _YEAR_?! ::squeaky, high-pitched voice:: And it belongs to ME?! OH THANKIES MUCHLY! YOUR FICS ARE SO GOOD!

To all the others (**Cherry-Wolf**, **Kumori**** Sakusha formerly Saelbu**, **curlyQ**, **Allie**, and **Setosbluedragon**) Thanks a lot for reviewing, I really appreciate it! Glad you like the fic!


	4. Chapter 4: Letters and a Diary

**Nachzes:** -stares at the fic- Is it just me, or are the chapters getting shorter…. Well, I guess it would be me in a sense even if they were…which they are…and I'll shut up now and let you get on with reading the fic. -nods-

_**This is a re-uploaded chapter with a better tone, I think.**_

**Summary: **

When Mokuba Kaiba faints in the middle of school, and a devastating revelation concerning his health comes into view, will Seto be able to deal with the added complication to his already problematical life? And what will happen when Yuugi and the gang find out?

**Disclaimer:**

raises eyebrow- You think you'd know by now. Well, guess what; I STILL DON'T OWN IT! So, would you get off my case please? -sweet smile-

**Warnings:**

Future yaoi (JöXSeto).

**Author's Notes (A/N's):**

**1)** When people are yelling, the words will appear in CAPITAL LETTERS, when people are being sarcastic, it'll show up inside single quotes (apostrophise)

**2)** "…" People speaking, or a quote

**3)** '…' Thoughts and/or a voice in someone's head, or written words

**4) **Memories are in _italics_, as are any 'stressed' words and/or syllables, and Japanese/French/whatever words (not English). If something is 'stressed' in a flashback or something else that's in _italics_, then it will be in plain text, because _italics_ on top of the _italics_ cancels the _italics_ out; now, are we clear?

**5)** At the end, anything that has a (number) beside it will be translated; anything with a -number- beside it will be explained.

**6)** '/_flash_/' indicates a change in time—if it is important, in between the two '/'s, it will say how much time passes in **bold** print, instead of '_flash_'. In a flashback or memory, the word 'flash' will be in plain text. See the _italics_ rule above.

**7)** Japanese names and ages

**8)** /…/ Yuugi to Yami Yuugi

**9)** /…_italics_…/ Yami Yuugi to Yuugi

**Shattered Masks, Healed Hearts**

**Book One: Opposites Attract**

**Chapter Four: Letters and a Diary**

**By: Nachzes Black-Rider**

**—Jö POV—**

As if in a dreamlike state, I dropped the cell phone and drifted over to the briefcase lying open on the floor—documents for KaibaCorp., file folders stuffed to the point of overflowing with complex charts and graphs, and school textbooks alike surrounded the up-turned object. Head cocked to one side as if in worry or curiosity—maybe both—Yuugi followed behind me, blond bangs hanging in front of his large violet eyes, the purple orbs dimmed slightly.

Reaching the case, I bent down and stretched my hand out towards it, my fingers barely brushing the smooth, cool metal of the handle. Closing my hand around it, I pulled it towards me, and very carefully ran the sensitive, experienced pads of my fingers along the inner edge of the bottom and top of the case. Smooth black velvet brushed gently against the soft, un-callused areas of the digits, muting the harshness of the edges of the case. I frowned in concentration, starting at the handle again and slowly, carefully, delicately, traced around the inner-outline of the briefcase. I felt something, a slight catch, and started to push down, but someone speaking distracted me.

"Jö, what are you doing?" Yuugi asked hesitantly, his child-like, innocent voice wavering somewhat in uncertainty.

"Looking for a secret compartment," I replied absently, pushing my heavy mop of blond hair out of my eyes and wiping the back of my hand across my forehead. I ran my fingers along the key area again, then grinned as I felt the tell-tale slight catch. "Ah ha," I said. "Found it. Now, let's see what Kaiba's been hiding from us, shall we?" I pressed down on the spot, and sure enough, the black velveteen background flipped up to reveal…a few letters—opened and slipped neatly back into their envelopes—a small bundle of receipts bound together with a rubber band, a hardcover coil notebook which was kept closed with a small lock—a diary—and a single, ordinary manila file folder labelled by a thick, black pen (most likely a _Sharpie_) 'Mokuba's Medical Records'. Blowing my bangs out of my eyes, I reached in and pulled out the letters. Sliding my finger under the tucked-in flap of the first envelope—dated 'Week of December 3, 2002'—I tugged at it a little so that I could access what was inside, and pulled out a few sheets of notebook paper with the barely-visible imprint of a Blue Eyes White Dragon on it. The sheets—most likely torn from a souvenir scribbler of some kind, like those cheap ones you can buy from the Dollar Store for a few hundred yen -1-—were filled with writing; the messy, disorganised kanji of a child. The paper's corners were curled over each other and worn thin, the edges of the sheets slightly smudged with their own ink—someone had read these letters time and time again. It was then I noticed the blotches—around the centre of the page the writing was blurred and distorted so much that you couldn't make out more than a few letters. Puzzling over this, I began to flip through the pages disinterestedly; reading a sentence here, a certain phrase jumping out at me there….

'It's morning right now as I'm sitting here writing this. The sun is shining, and it's a beautiful day. I wish I could go out and enjoy it, but the doctors said I can't. For now I'll just have to eat the junk they call breakfast, although, rest assured, Seto, it's nothing compared to your cooking.

'…Vampires that they are, they took a couple samples of my blood again. The nurse who did it gave me a Duel Monsters band-aid and patted my arm after. She told me I'm "a very brave little boy". But I'm scared,_'Nii-sama_ (1)….

'…feel sick again today. I already threw-up twice, and it's only eleven in the morning. I'm not hungry, either, though I must have lost what little I ate of my breakfast. I can't wait 'till I come home…. The nurses are sympathetic. They put cool washcloths on my forehead and pat my arm, clucking their tongues. Always clucking….'

I frowned and folded the papers up, stuffing them back in the envelope and closing it up again. I reached for the receipts, pulling the rubber band off of them and shuffling through. None of them were very long—one or two items at the most—and all were from the same place—_The_ _KaibaCorp. Hospital Pharmacy_. Something about pills…. I replaced the rubber band on them, bored. '_Kami-sama_,' I thought to myself, 'what's the point of this secret compartment if there's nothing _good_ in it?' My eyes landed on the manila folder. Yuugi gasped, jaw dropping open in shock, as I reached for it.

"Jö, you _can__'t_! That's _private family information_! You can't _read_ it! Put it back in the folder!"

I couldn't. I was mesmerised by reading the document. It was almost frightening how wrapped up in my rival's life I had become….

"JÖNÖCHI, KATSUYA! PUT THAT FOLDER DOWN!"

I continued to stare at a particular sentence in the doctor's report, stunned. 'No way…there's just no _WAY_!' The document was ripped out of my hands, and Yuugi shoved it into the folder, and then dropped them both into the briefcase as if burned. Still in shock, I stared at him. He glared back, his eyes narrow crimson pools in his anger /2/.

"We," he said in a deep voice most unlike his own, "are going to go deliver this—and the phone message—to Kaiba."

"One problem," I said.

"What's that?"

"We don't know where Kaiba is."

**—Yami Yuugi POV—**

I froze. This friend of my _hikari_ (2) was right. But then…: "I think we do."

"What?" Jönöchi was suddenly staring at me as if I had grown two extra heads.

"I think we have an idea where Kaiba is," I said.

"We do?"

"Yes. Think about what he said before he left."

Jönöchi screwed up his eyes in thought. "He said…he said…"What about him!" didn't he?"

/_Hai_ (3), he did/ Yuugi says to me.

I searched through my lighter half's knowledge of the new world in my mind frantically, combining these with his memories of the afternoon to try to find something else…some other clue….

/Caller ID/ Yuugi whispered to me, his spirit form floating in mid-air beside my—for the moment—material one.

/_Thanks,_/ I thought back to him. He nodded and disappeared back into his soul-room. "If we check the list of callers on his cell, we should get some idea as to who he was talking about," I said aloud to Jö. I had my hunch—one that Yuugi shared with me—but I wanted to make sure, first. Jö went back and picked up the phone, then pressed a couple buttons and began scrolling through the list of callers for the day.

"Damn," he muttered. "Kaiba has _way_ too many contacts. Wait…here's something…" he squinted at the screen. "_Tokyo Elementary School_." He paused, and then looked up at me. We stared at each other, dimly horrified, for though his horror was real, that of a person who has just realized something terrible, mine was that of a pessimist who has just learned that their worst suspicions have just been confirmed and called truth.

But it was horror for both of us all the same.

And as in many well-known cases, horror comes in one word—one word that encompasses one person's entire world.

"_Mokuba_," we both whispered simultaneously.

And this time, that world just so happen to be Kaiba's world.

"Kaiba went to the hospital here," Jönöchi said, revelation beginning to dawn on his features, to break through the horror that we both no doubt still felt. "But Mokuba was transferred to Kyoto. We just got the message confirming that. But if Kaiba didn't know…" his eyes widened. "Kaiba went to the wrong hospital!" he breathed.

My mouth dropped open. "We have to get the message to him," I said.

"_How_?"

I shrugged helplessly, and tried leafing through my limited knowledge of modern day technology to try to find some solution…some way to solve this problem. I had saved the world multiple times in my lives—both mine and my _hikari_'s—so why couldn't I simply come up with a plan to reach my rival before he tore apart the hospital searching for his little brother? I snarled vehemently at myself and kneaded my forehead with my knuckles, digging furiously through my mind for some fact that might help me on this wild crusade.

"Take a car," I blurted.

Jönöchi stared at me. "Huh?" he said dumbly.

"Take a car," I repeated.

"Yuugi, whose car do you propose we take? In case you haven't noticed, neither of us owns one."

I glared at the white-tiled floor, willing it to spontaneously combust—just suddenly burst into bright, flickering orange and red light in front of my eyes. I glared at the phone in Jönöchi's hand; I let out a sharp gasp of realization. Jönöchi looked at me, mildly startled. "We can use the phone to call Kaiba's limo driver!" I said excitedly.

"But won't the driver realize that it's not Kaiba calling?" he asked, confused.

"It's the best plan we have," I insisted, my tone firm, my face set.

Jönöchi nodded his agreement and began scrolling through contacts again, then pressed a button and put the phone to one ear, waiting for the person on the other end of the line to pick up. He nodded to me, and then spoke.

"_Moshi moshi_."

Silence, except for a slight metallic-sounding voice coming from the phone that Jönöchi held.

"_Hai_. Could you pick us up at Tokyo High?" A short pause. "Right away, please. _Arigatö_." Jönöchi hung up the phone and turned to face me. "We're in."

—**Yuugi POV— **

/**5 minutes later**/

I looked up from the cracked grey concrete of the street at the loud, unmistakable blast of a car horn. Beside me, Jö rolled his eyes. "Finally," he muttered. I laughed, trying to sound carefree as well, but the sound rang too loudly in the air—too sharp and cutting—and so I stopped and stood up, brushing myself off. The shiny black door to the limo opened, and the driver spoke from the front seat.

"Get in, Yuugi-chan; Jönöchi-chan."

Jö slid in as if it was the easiest thing since picking up a pencil, but I was awkward and kept whacking my hair on the roof until finally Jö pulled me in and sat me down. He had to help me with my seatbelt, too—my fingers were shaking too much. After that, I just curled up in my seat and leaned back against the headrest, as if exhausted, and blocked the world out. I could feel tears pricking at the corners of my eyes behind my lids, and I couldn't hold them back. Hot, salty water droplets slipped down my cheeks one after the other, and I just gave up and stared blankly out my window, crying silently, one word going through my head again and again. One word: _Why_?

But nobody answered my unspoken question. The limo was silent as it drove off into the heavy, stifling air, pulling away from the curb and peeling off in a cloud of dust and squealing tires. The smell of burnt rubber hung heavy in the air, and all I could think of was the contents of the file folder we'd found in Kaiba-kun's briefcase, and the horrible secret within.

**To be continued….**

**Translations, End Notes, Etc.:**

(1) _Big Brother_

(2) _Light_ or _Lightness_

(3) _Yes_

1- The yen (Japanese currency) is worth a lot less than the dollar (both Canadian and American), so this would translate to about…probably five to ten bucks. I don't know, I'm not very good at this, but I wanted to use yen, not dollars, so….

**Nachzes:** -gasps- Dun dun dun…what next! Chapter Five shall hold the answers—and the famed _Seto POV_! OMG! -suspense music thunders from the computer speakers-

**Kaiba:** Oh God….

**Review Responses:**

**Saggi the Dark Clown:** Yatta! You reviewed my ficcies! And you're another nominee for 'The Most Insightful Reviewer Award'! -cheersconfetti-

**Willowwind Adurois:** I still don't get why I had to hound you for like a _month_…well…more like a couple weeks, I guess…to get you to review Chapter Three! But you did it eventually! Yay! _MY_ friend! -glomps-

**Koi-Bara:** Uhmn…yeah! -nods-

**Meiharu:** -sticks out tongue- 'Cause I like to, that's why. I'm the authoress, I have the power to decide whether or not I shall leave people angry at me or wanting more, or happy, content, and to forget completely about the fic.


	5. Chapter 5: ALL

**Nachzes:** Wow, I'm just a machine this month, aren't I? The day after I post Chapter One of _Harry Potter and the Sennen Items_, I start working on this. Then after a week or so, I post two new one-shot gift fics for two of my best buds (the third for **Hui Xie** is on the way). And I'll probably start working on Chapter Two for HPatSI in a couple days, too! Dude, that's trippin'! -clears throat- _Any_ways, my other half has been working her little ass off at her fictionpress account, if you read any of her stories (well, story) there. She's working on the prologue for _Red Rain_, and chapter two of _The Fallen_ is probably around…oh, I'd say…maybe half to three quarters of the way done. Mebbe two thirds…I dunno….

**Kaiba:** -snarls- Well, isn't that just bloody fascinating?

**Nachzes:** …SOMEone's PMS-ing today.

**Kaiba:** Yeah. _You_.

**Nachzes:** -sticks out tongue- Shut up, that's just today—like, a couple weeks after I typed that first part. -sweat drops- Yeah, this part was written _after_ I finished this chapter, and the first three lines (speaking people) were typed when I started this chapter. -grins- I'm twisted, I know.

**Kaiba:** Shut up.

**Nachzes:** -sticks out tongue again- Make me.

**Kaiba:** -snarls-

**Summary: **

When Mokuba Kaiba faints in the middle of school, and a devastating revelation concerning his health comes into view, will Seto be able to deal with the added complication to his already problematical life? And what will happen when Yuugi and the gang find out?

**Disclaimer:**

Hmm, let's think…I didn't own it last time…and as all the other fics I've read today still say in their disclaimers that it belongs to some dude in Japan, and not me, I guess I don't own it. How unbelievably tragic. Perhaps even more so than this fic!

**Warnings:**

Future yaoi (JöXSeto). Yes, yes, Jö will be seme. -grins deviously-

**Author's Notes (A/N's):**

**1)** When people are yelling, the words will appear in CAPITAL LETTERS, when people are being sarcastic, it'll show up inside single quotes (apostrophise)

**2)** "…" People speaking, or a quote

**3)** '…' Thoughts and/or a voice in someone's head, or written words

**4) **Memories are in _italics_, as are any 'stressed' words and/or syllables, and Japanese/French/whatever words (not English). If something is 'stressed' in a flashback or something else that's in _italics_, then it will be in plain text, because _italics_ on top of the _italics_ cancels the _italics_ out; now, are we clear?

**5)** At the end, anything that has a (number) beside it will be translated, anything with a -number- beside it will be explained.

**6)** '/_flash_/' indicates a change in time—if it is important, in between the two '/'s, it will say how much time passes in **bold** print, instead of '_flash_'. In a flashback or memory, the word 'flash' will be in plain text. See the _italics_ rule above.

**7)** Japanese names and ages

**8)** /…/ Yuugi to Yami Yuugi

**9)** /…_italics_…/ Yami Yuugi to Yuugi

**Shattered Masks, Healed Hearts**

**Book One: Opposites Attract**

**Chapter Five: ALL**

**By: Nachzes Black-Rider**

—**Seto POV—**

Cautiously, my eyes flickered open, and I groaned, throwing a hand up to shield my eyes from the blinding white light that struck at them viciously. "Arrgh," I muttered, as a dull throbbing beginning to make itself known behind my eye sockets. Pinching the bridge of my nose, I inhaled in a quick whistle, and exhaled slowly, squinting my eyes shut tightly and swinging my legs over the edge of the bed. Hissing at the sharp pain that shot through my temples at the sudden movement, I pressed the heels of my hands to my eyes, waiting for the pain to subside.

When it did, I removed my hands and opened my eyes, blinking at the harsh white linoleum my shoes rested on. 'Tiles?' I puzzled, the hand that had been running through my bangs to push them back freezing mid-way. 'But we don't have tiles at home except in the kitchen and the bathrooms…and it's not linoleum tile, either….' I scrunched up my eyes, trying to remember, feeling suddenly as if I was forgetting something important. Suddenly, it hit me, and my eyes shot wide open again; I stood up, the panic that filled me overriding the pain that sliced once again through the tender tissue in my cranium.

"Seto?"

I looked up, my blue eyes wide and frightened, like a deer caught in the headlights.

"Seto? Daijöbö-ka?" The doctor that had spoken stepped forward slightly, and suddenly I recognized her.

"Sandi?" I gasped, and she nodded, strawberry-blonde curls bobbing with the motion. "Sandi-san, you have to help me! Where's Mokuba?"

She frowned at me. "You should be in bed, Seto. You've just gotten over a mild case of shock—something that landed you in here! You ended up hyperventilating -1- in the ER—you need to relax, or you're going to pass out again." She narrowed her bright, sky-blue eyes at me, placing defiant hands on her hips, the flush in the apples of her cheeks rising as she continued. "Seto, you're not eating properly. We had this talk last time; you _must eat_! You can't skip out on meals in favour of work! If you're not careful you may develop a serious disorder…."

I tuned her out, a dim buzz filling the place in my head that her words had previously been in. Blankly, I attempted to dodge past her, but she reacted quicker than I expected, seizing the back of my shirt and stopping me. I struggled, but she held fast, glaring at me.

"_What_ is _wrong_ with you, Seto!" she cried, grasping my wrist with her other hand.

"Where's Mokuba?" I gasped again, panic swamping me, nullifying my senses. "Where's my otöto-chan?" I grasped her forearms hard enough to bruise, shaking her roughly, the pure terror I felt making itself blatantly obvious in my voice. "What have you done with him, Sandi? Where is he! They called me and told me he was here! Where _IS HE_!"

"SETO! _Calm down_! You're going to have another attack if you don't relax!—"

"Where's Mokuba? Where is he?—"

"—_KAIBA_—"

"—did you do with him!—"

"—CALM DOWN!—"

"—Where is he! Where—"

"_SETO_! _YAMERO_ (1)!"

"—Mokuba!"

"_YAMERO_!"

"MOKUBA!"

"_YAMERO_!"

"_MOKUBA_!"

—**Jö POV—**

Me and Yuugi -2- leaped out of the limo as soon as it began to slow down, throwing open the door right when we saw the large sign over the entrance and jumping out. Yuugi waved to the driver over his shoulder and had to put on an extra burst of speed to catch up to me; I just ran right in there and charged past the welcome desk, a man on a mission. I didn't know _why_ I felt like that—adrenaline pulsing through my veins, heart caught in my throat, blood pounding in my ears—I just did.

I tore past several gurneys still in the hallway, dodged around IV poles, skipped over tubing and power cords. Yuugi stumbled along behind me, tripping occasionally in the crowded space and picking himself up awkwardly, making stuttering apologies to the patients on the carts as he dragged that oversized metal briefcase of Kaiba's behind him. "_Sumimasen_ (2)," he mumbled, threading his way steadily through the crowd, making apologies in advance, "_gomen nasai_ (3), _Obaa-san_ (4); _Ojii-san_ (5), _sumimasen_."

Suddenly, I was almost bowled over by a team of doctors and medical assistants wearing matching powder blue scrubs -3- under long white lab coats, wheeling a crash cart -4- ahead of them. "Move out of the way!" one of them shouted, waving his hand off to one side as if he thought I didn't understand what the words meant, and needed a visual aid.

I leaped aside—nearly entangling myself in several stray cords—and they ran on ahead, careening around the corner and into a room near the end of the hall, still yelling at each other in Hospitalnese.

"Jeez," I muttered, shaking my leg to free it from the cord wrapped around it like a python, "watch where you're going, why don't you? I mean…." I trailed off, and, still sulking slightly, began trudging along the hall again, Yuugi trailing behind me, lugging Kaiba's briefcase along gripped in both hands.

—**Sandi POV—**

"You, hook that lead -5- up to his chest! Minase, turn on the AED -6-! GET THAT SHIRT OFF OF HIM; IT'S OBSTRUCTING HIS CHEST! You"—the doctor yelling the orders turned to me, hazel eyes crackling—"you know CPR -7-?"

"Of course!" I said, slightly affronted.

"Good. Get ready to start compressions as soon as we finish the first three shocks." He turned. "YAEGASHI, GET A BREATHING TUBE -8- DOWN HIS THROAT PRONTO!" he bellowed at another doctor.

"_Hai_, Sir!" The girl saluted and snapped an elastic band off her wrist around her long raven black hair, yanking open a drawer of the crash cart, pulling out a plastic tube and a breathing mask equipped with an airbag -9-. Hurriedly, she inserted the tube down Seto's throat and put the mask on, nodding to the other, who glanced quickly at the monitor of the AED.

"CLEAR!"

Seto's body arced up suddenly off of the floor, then slammed back down, as the shock lanced through it.

_Beeeeeeep_….

"Nothing. And again; CLEAR!"

_Beeeeeeeeeeep_….

"Last one! CLEAR!"

_Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep_….

"Alright, you two, start CPR!" he pointed at me, then the black-haired doctor in turn. I dropped down beside my patient, positioning my hands in the centre of his chest—one on top of the other, right between his nipples—and nodded at my sudden partner. She squeezed the airbag twice, and I began pumping, counting under my breath as I did so, tears making my throat tight and my chest ache.

"_Ichi_, _ni_, _san_, _yon_ (6)—"

'Don't die, Seto, please don't die….'

"—_go_, _roku_, _shichi_, _hachi_, _kyuu_ (7)—"

'Oh, God, please….'

"—_juu_, _juuichi_, _juuni_ (8)—"

'Come one, come on…wake up, Seto! You've got to wake up!'

"—_juusan_ (9)—"

'Please—'

"—_juuyon_ (10)—"

'—please don't—'

"—_juugo_ (11)!"

'—please don't die!'

I gasped, and looked up at Yaegashi, who had stepped back after giving Seto two more breaths. Suddenly, Seto's body arched wildly again, and I swear I could _see_ the electricity surging through his wiry frame. My eyes stung, and I sat there, panting, ears ringing as the first doctor gave the order again, and Seto's body spasmed again, and that horrible, horrible droning whine coming from the heart monitor continued….

'God, no….'

"CLEAR!"

I wiped my eyes with the back of one hand, preparing to start again, but something stopped me.

Silence.

And then…:

…_Beep_. …_Beep_. …_Beep_.

"We've got a pulse! Good job, team." The doctor mopped his face with the sleeve of his lab coat and switched off the AED, the others beginning to disperse as well, helping to pack up the crash cart and move Seto onto his bed again. I stared blankly at the unconscious form of the fifteen-year-old, still sitting on the floor. Out of the blue, a hand clapped me on the shoulder, and I jumped, putting a hand to my chest to steady my own wildly beating heart as I peered up into the face of the obvious leader of the Code Blue Team -10-. "Give him an intravenous -11- of lignocaine -12- to make sure nothing else happens, and a shot of diazepam -13- to help him rest, alright?"

I nodded, worn out, and stood up, taking a seat on the edge of the bed Seto was in, letting my head hang limply from my neck, resting it in my hands.

"You did good, you know," the EDP -14- said, still carefully scrutinizing my form. I shrugged in response.

"Whatever," I mumbled. Drawing my hands away from my face, I realized that they were sticky and damp with fear-sweat and tears, my face smeared with them. Making a face, I used my lab coat to mop up, and then propped my chin up in one hand, the elbow digging into the side of my knee. I ignored the pain.

"Whatever?" the doctor asked, raising an eyebrow. "Whatever? I must say, that's not the response from a person who just helped to save a life."

"He shouldn't have had the heart attack in the first place," I said, looking up to glare at him. "If I had just _phoned_ him personally, and _told_ him where his brother was _right away_, then he wouldn't have come in here looking for him and…" I gestured at the sleeping boy in the bed I was sitting on. "_This_ wouldn't have happened." My hand dropped again, and I stared helplessly at Seto's peaceful face.

"Well he's alive now, and resting. Just give him the shot and the lignocaine, and everything'll look better in the morning, alright?" He patted me on the back again, and turned to leave.

"Wait!" I called . He turned, and I blushed slightly. "_Anö_ (12)…" I began, and looked down. "You forgot to give me your name."

He grinned. "Doctor Ryo Takashi of the Tokyo Hospital's Blue Team at your service. And you?"

I smiled hesitantly. "Doctor Sandi Richards. Kaiba, Seto's private doctor since he was ten. I also work in paediatrics -15- here at Tokyo H."

Ryo smiled. "Pleased to meet you, Sandi-san. I hope we run into each other again sometime." He turned to leave once more. "Scram, kids," he said to someone standing in the doorway (I couldn't see them properly—Dr. Takashi's form blocked them from view). "Nothing to see here; move along now."

"We want to see Kaiba."

"Yes, well, you'll have to wait Jö. He's resting right now," Dr. Takashi replied, one hand on the doorknob, the other on the frame.

"Please, Sir, we're friends of his. We need to give something to him—he forgot it when he rushed out of class," someone else entreated, attempting to peek around the doctor to see inside the room. I caught a brief glimpse of wide violet eyes and several tall spikes of tri-coloured hair before Takashi-san moved slightly to block the view of the person, and the head disappeared behind the doorframe again.

"Fine." Takashi-san was speaking again, and I turned my attention back to what he was saying. "You can give it to me and I'll keep it safe until he wakes up; I'll deliver whatever it is you need to give to him then."

"Listen, Takashi, we need to give Moneybags -16- a _personal_ message." The first speaker, again. Jö, was it?

"As I've said already, Katsuya, Kaiba-san is _resting_—"

"You can let them in, Ryo," I said, getting up and going over to the end table beside the bed, where the Blue Team had left an IV sack of lignocaine, a syringe -17-, and a small bottle of diazepam. Beginning to rifle through a drawer for some rubbing alcohol and a cotton ball, I heard the Ryo mutter something and then the door shut with a _click_, and then shuffling footsteps coming closer.

"Aha," I said as I found what I was looking for. Unscrewing the cap on the alcohol, I placed the cotton ball over the top, tilting the bottle upside-down for a few seconds before I righted it and held the cotton ball ready in one hand, rolling Seto's sleeve up to his shoulder with the other and then swabbing the exposed skin with the disinfectant -18-. Chucking the used cotton ball into the trash can, I picked up the syringe in one hand—swiftly removing it from its package—and the diazepam in the other, filling the needle with the drug and then injecting it into Seto's system, rubbing the area gently to get the blood to carry the sedative -19- through his system faster. Suddenly, I heard a gasp from behind me, and turned around to see the person with the strange hair that I had caught a glimpse of earlier. Up close, he looked—if it was possible—even weirder. With his diminutive height, a Tokyo High school uniform, the black leather collar around his neck, huge purple eyes set in a cherub-y face, and twenty-centimetre-high spikes of crimson and black hair, along with brilliantly blond bangs that flopped into his eyes, he made quite the contrast. He looked—quite literally—like an innocent little eight-year-old kid attempting to pose as a street punk.

Meanwhile, as I was contemplating this, the boy had been simply standing there, staring at Seto's sleeping form, mouth wide open and gaping. Soon enough, he snapped out of it as his companion (a _much_ taller teen with a broad chest, narrow—but not as narrow as Seto's—amber eyes, golden blond hair that flopped forward into his eyes, and tanned skin) tapped him on the shoulder, startling the shorter boy.

"Hey, Yuugi-pal, what you staring at?" he asked in that loud voice of his—brash and boisterous—before he, too, caught sight of Seto lying there in the hospital bed, and his jaw dropped open as well.

"Can I help you?" I asked, standing up and taking the sack of lignocaine in one hand and hanging it from a hook on the intravenous pole, connecting an IV line to it and picking up Seto's arm, searching for a vein to insert the needle into -20-. Finding one, I slid the needle quickly under my patient's skin and ripped a piece of tape off from the roll left on the pole, taping the needle in place. Finally, the first boy—the short one with the weird hair—responded to my inquisition.

"Umm…yes," he said. "Can you tell me what is…what's going on here?"

"Hmm?" I replied absently, checking to make sure on the blood pressure monitor attached to the IV pole that Seto's pressure was OK.

"We want to know why Kaiba, Seto is lying unconscious on a hospital bed, Lady."

I glared at the blond teen who had spoken. "You may call me Richard-san. I am a doctor." I gestured to my nametag. "Seto's personal doctor," I added. "As to why he's here…I've been telling him for weeks that he needs to eat properly, and stop stressing so much over work and his little brother, and get some sleep. I suppose it finally caught up with him," I lied easily, having no trouble at all telling falsehoods to this teen. "Now," I continued, "I believe you were telling Takashi-san that you have something of Seto's?"

"Oh…yes," the other boy said, and I turned to him. He held out a briefcase—one that I recognized as Seto's favourite. "He left this at school when he had to…umm…leave, earlier today." I nodded my thanks, and took the metal case from him, and was about to set it down on the floor beside the bed when I noticed something.

"What's this?" I asked the boy, pointing at the crusted-on brown stain on one of the corners and glaring at him.

"You're a doctor," the other teen piped up again, glaring back at me. "Don't you recognize blood when you see it?"

"Oh, I recognize it, all right," I said grimly, bristling under the verbal attack. "What I meant was _how did it get there_?"

"I don't know," he said, annoyed. "We found it in the hallway at school like that." He crossed his arms over his chest, defiant, and continued. "Oh, and just for the record, _Lady_," he said, stressing the title. I bristled further, but he paid it no heed, "we know that Kaiba's 'unhealthy habits' didn't just 'catch up with him'. He came here to find his little brother, who had already gotten transferred to Kyoto, and _then_ something happened to him. So, what was it?" He said all this triumphantly, a smug smile on his face, and suddenly I felt something creeping up my spine—suspicion. I scrutinized him carefully, looking for the slightest sign of guilt, and then did the same to his companion. The latter teen refused to meet my eyes.

'Bingo,' I thought. Out loud, I said, "Okay, the joke's up. What did you two do?"

The shorter one flushed and shuffled him feet, mumbling something under his breath, and the blond shot him a glare.

"What's that?" I asked. "Didn't quite catch that bit."

The boy looked up, and I was startled to see tears in his eyes. "We know everything, okay!" he shouted, and I nearly took a step back, startled at the outburst. "We found the secret compartment in the briefcase and accidentally read the files on Mokuba! We didn't mean to; it just happened!" The tears were streaming down his face now, and his hands were balled into fists at his sides, his body tense. His voice grew quieter with his next words, and I began to feel sympathetic towards him. "We just wanted to help him," he whispered. "We just wanted to be his friends."

I sighed deeply and sat down on the edge of the bed, gazing at Seto's face—peaceful and almost seraphic in sleep—before turning back to the others and patting the covers beside me. "Sit down, then," I said wearily. "You're knowledge of the situation…changes things a bit. It will take quite some time to explain, and my knowledge of this is slightly limited. Seto is very…secretive. He prefers to keep to himself."

"No kidding," I heard the blond mutter derisively under his breath. "Asshole."

I stiffened, and glared at him. He looked startled. "Seto has very good reasons for acting the way he does," I informed him, locking my eyes with his. "None of which I'm sure you'd understand. Now, I believe you wanted to know about Mokuba's…condition, and Seto's current state in regards to it?"

They both nodded, the blond still looking slightly shocked at my outburst, and I took a deep breath and began.

"Mokuba was first diagnosed with ALL -21-, or Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia when Seto had just taken over KaibaCorp.—almost two years ago. Mokuba was about ten years old, I believe, and Seto was barely fourteen.

"Seto arranged for treatment immediately, and young Mokuba went through several rounds of chemotherapy and radiation -22-. He lost all his hair, and Seto arranged for a private tutor for his little brother so that he didn't have to go to school when he wasn't feeling well, which was nearly all the time. After a month or so the tutor was fired. As to why, I'm not sure—only Seto and the man himself know, perhaps Mokuba does, too—and Seto took over Mokuba's education at home. He's Mokuba's legal guardian, you know—has been since the day Gozaboro disappeared -23-—and he had to figure out how to balance out Mokuba's education, KaibaCorp., and his own needs. In the end he was the one who suffered—he'd had to drop out ofJunior Highto home-school Mokuba, and he was under a lot of stress from both looking after his little brother and attempting to control his recently-inherited company. Consequently, his own health began to deteriorate.

"If he wasn't able to sleep well before Mokuba was diagnosed with cancer, now he was an insomniac. He would go for days without eating, except to drink endless cups of coffee in order to stay awake to work on projects for KaibaCorp. that he'd neglected during the day in favour of teaching Mokuba. He was…barely alive." I glanced down at my hands, balled up in my lap, and sighed. "Eventually, Mokuba recovered and went into remission. His hair grew back and he went back to school, but Seto was never the same again. If he was protective of Mokuba before, now he was terrified of losing his little brother. Something inside of him awoke that day when they found out that Mokuba had tested positive for ALL, something that…." I trailed off. I couldn't tell them. Not about that. That was something for Seto to tell them when—if—he was ready. I went on.

"Anyways, Mokuba remained in remission for nearly a year and a half—until when, last summer, while they were in America, Mokuba began showing symptoms again. Immediately, Seto took him to a clinic there for blood testing, and it was determined that Mokuba was relapsing. Mokuba wanted to come back to Japan and carry on with his life here, going in for treatments on the weekends and just…continuing to be a kid. Seto, of course, now that his old fear had been re-awakened, abided by his brother's wishes and life went of to the outside world as if nothing had changed.

"But then…" I trailed off again, unsure of what to say. Gradually, I became aware of a slight stinging in my nose -24- and a prickling in the corners of my eyes. Something wet slipped down my cheek, and I turned away to look at Seto again. They say when a person is asleep that you can see past the barriers they put up against the world, and at that moment, Seto just looked so innocent, so…unsuspecting, that it almost broke my heart. I felt sure that this must have been what the sapphire-eyed brunet had been like before it all. Before the orphanage, before Gozaboro, before everything…. I swallowed, feeling my throat tighten, and it seemed as if there was a huge melon, or at least an apple, lodged in my trachea and oesophagus -25-, making it hard for me to swallow, making it difficult just to breathe. I scrubbed my stinging nose with one hand, and took a deep breath, my hands tightening around each other in my lap, before turning back to face the two boys, who had remained silent throughout my whole literary, and opening my mouth to speak again.

"Today, Mokuba fainted at school while in gym. Of course, the school phoned Seto to let him know—a half an hour after the fact—and he ran over here, then went into shock when he couldn't find Mokuba." I sighed deeply. "That's about when you came in, I guess," I finished lamely, turning back towards Seto and brushing a lock of hair back out of his face as he murmured something in his sleep and rolled over, the bedcovers rustling slightly with the movement.

"Richards-san?" It was the voice of the smaller boy—Yuugi, the other had called him.

"Yes?"

"Why…I mean, how do you know so much about Kaiba-kun's past, and why…ah, why do you call him by his first name?"

"I've been his private doctor ever since he was ten years old," I said, slightly hesitant to give more information than I should. "We're…close, I suppose. He can trust me with the secrets only he, Gozaboro, and I know, and…" I stopped myself just short of saying something I shouldn't. "We're close," I repeated, very quietly, smoothing Seto's hair back from his face again.

It was silent for a minute, Seto's deep, even breathing filling the space around us, and I didn't even notice that Yuugi was peering around me at Seto before he spoke, breaking the sense of stillness.

"He looks so…different when he's sleeping," he whispered. "Jö," he called, slightly louder, "come look at this."

"They say that when a person is sleeping soundly, their face tells you what they're like under all the walls they've built, and the pain they've suffered," I whispered back, as the blond sauntered up the side of the bed and stared at the sight before him, an unreadable expression on his face.

Seto stirred slightly, and then suddenly his face contorted as if in pain or terror, and he clutched his arms around his chest, whimpering quietly and curling into a ball under the blankets as if trying to protect himself from something. Jö took a quick step back, and Yuugi looked shocked. I shot up from the mattress, instantly aware of what was going on.

"Shit," I said aloud, panicking slightly. I put my hand gently on Seto's arm and he flinched away, still caught in the depths of a nightmare, his eyes shut tightly. "Help me, here," I said to Jö and Yuugi, beckoning them over. "I need to get that IV needle out of his arm before it snaps off and gets stuck in there. I need you" (I pointed at Yuugi) "to distract him. Talk to him gently. Reassure him. Whatever you do, don't scare him." I turned to Jö. "You," I said, "need to help me by holding him down, okay?" He nodded, and I could see that his eyes were wide as he stared at Seto, who was thrashing around now in the bed, his incoherent noises louder now; pleading. "Okay," I said, taking a deep breath. "Now."

Yuugi seized one of Seto's flailing hands and held it tightly in his own, talking to him in a low, steady voice that seemed far too deep to be his own -26-, but I shrugged it off, instead turning my attention to Jö, who had crawled onto the bed and was attempting to avoid being hit by Seto's other arm and hold him still at the same time. Finally managing to grab the appendage in question, he passed it onto me and straddled Seto's hips, effectively pinning him to the mattress.

Instantly, Seto went still, his breathing shallow and his face twisted, turned away from Jö's. He whimpered slightly as I removed the IV line from his vein, but didn't do anything more than twitch. I reached out to smooth his hair back, and he tilted his head away from me, a small sob dropping from his lips.

"Come on, Seto," I pleaded, reaching out to him again, but he shied away, still trapped in sleep. "Don't do this to me now. It's okay, he's gone, you're fine. Just please, _please_ don't do this now; not when I can't wake you up." He flinched as I touched his arm lightly, and attempted to pull away, only to find himself still trapped by Jö's weight. "Jö," I said lowly, "get off his hips, but be careful not to make any sudden movements—they'll spook him."

The blond nodded and cautiously loosened his grip on Seto's arms, sitting up straighter. Seto inhaled sharply and dug his teeth into his lower lip, biting it so hard that a thin trickle of blood ran down his chin, but didn't move, instead opting for tensing his muscles to the extent of which his whole body trembled minutely. Frowning, concerned, Jö reached out to touch Seto's face, but I caught his wrist and shook my head. His frown deepened, but he released Seto's upper arms and carefully began to inch lower down Seto's prone body. Seto's breath hitched, as if in fear, but still he didn't move, except to whisper under his breath in…Russian? I frowned, but didn't say anything, instead concentrating my energy on calming the frightened brunet down.

"_It's okay, Seto. It's okay,_" I told him in English, keeping his hand tightly clasped in mine. "_You're going to be alright—he's gone; he can't hurt you anymore; you're safe. Relax._" I reached out to brush a tendril of cinnamon hair away from his face, still murmuring quietly to him in English. Gradually, he relaxed, exhaling in a rush the air he had held pent-up in his lungs and immediately curling back up into a ball when he felt that Jö's weight had disappeared from the mattress and wrapping his arms around himself protectively. "_It's all going to be all right, Seto,_" I whispered, lightly touching his face. "_It's all going to be all right._" And this time he didn't pull away—the nightmare was over.

Breathing a sigh of relief, I stood up and tucked my curls behind one ear, folding my own arms across my chest, studying Seto's form carefully as his posture loosened and his breathing dropped off again, once again becoming deep and even. Finally relaxing myself, I turned around to face the two boys, who were taking turns staring at me, and then switching their gaze to Seto, both of them wide-eyed.

"So," I sighed, and they both started, their eyes snapping back onto me. Yuugi was the first to open his mouth, but no sound came out, and he looked back down at Seto, shoulders slumped, appearing…helpless.

The silence went on for another half a minute or so, before Jö finally found his voice, and asked, still staring at Seto with an illegible expression, "What was that, anyways? What just happened?"

"Nightmare," I said, looking down. "They're…a regular occurrence. I should have expected one, but…" I sighed. "I had hoped that maybe…perhaps, the sedatives could help. Apparently, they didn't—they just made it harder to calm him because we couldn't wake him up." I smiled grimly and turned my gaze to the scenery outside the window.

"When I was holding his arm, I think I saw…scars," Yuugi said, once again in that deep voice. He turned to look at me, and I saw with a start that his eyes were no longer wide and violet, but narrower and crimson. "How did those get there?"

"I can't tell you," I said, breaking his gaze and pretending to be fascinated with wind blowing the leaves of the trees around outside, even though I didn't really see them.

"More secrets," Jö said, and the corner of my mouth quirked humourlessly upward.

"Yes," I whispered. "More secrets. Ones that should never have come to be."

A tear trickled down my cheek, and, casting a glance to my side, I fancied that I saw Jö's eyes shimmering slightly in the light as well, but brushed it off as coincidence.

"He's waking up," I heard Yuugi say, and, sure enough, Seto was beginning to stir slightly, sapphire eyes blinking open drowsily to peer back at me, looking, for just a few seconds, like a lost china doll trapped, broken, in someone else's life.

"_Sandi?_" he asked in English. _"Where am I? Where's Mokuba?_"

This time, I didn't try to stop the tears.

**To be continued….**

**Translations, End Notes, Etc.:**

(1) _Yamero_: _Stop it_

(2) _Sumimasen_: _Pardon me_

(3) _Gomen nasai_: _I'm very sorry_

(4) _Obaa-san_: _Grandmother_—respectful version

(5) _Ojii-san_: _Grandfather_—respectful version

(6) _Ichi_, _ni_, _san_, _yon_: _One_, _two_, _three_, _four_

(7) _Go_, _roku_, _shichi_, _hachi_, _kyuu_: _Five_, _six_, _seven_, _eight_, _nine_

(8) _Juu_, _juuichi_, _juuni_: _Ten_, _eleven_, _twelve_

(9) _Juusan_: _Thirteen_

(10) _Juuyon_: _Fourteen_

(11) _Juugo_: _Fifteen_

(12) _Anö_: _Umm_

1- Hyperventilating: Medical term; lose too much carbon dioxide: to breathe unusually deeply or rapidly because of anxiety or organic disease and in excess of the body's requirements, causing too much loss of carbon dioxide.

2- Yeah, I _know_ that's horrible grammar. -winces- (If it's one thing I can't stand, it's bad grammar) But it's Jö, so….

3- Scrubs: Clothing worn while performing surgery: the clothing, usually a matching green shirt and pants, worn by surgeons and nurses in an operating room (informal)

4- Crash cart: The carts they have in hospitals and sports stadiums that have medical equipment in/on them to help jump-start a heart again, as well as syringes, IV lines, medication, etc..

5- Lead: A line (wire)/pad that allows the shock to travel from the source point into the body.

6- AED: Automated External Defibrillator; mobile defibrillator in public place: a small portable lifesaving device used if a person suffers a heart attack to analyze the heart rhythm and, if necessary, deliver an electric shock to restore a regular heartbeat.

Automatic external defibrillators are increasingly being kept in public places such as airports.

7- CPR: Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation; emergency technique to revive somebody: an emergency technique to revive somebody whose heart has stopped beating that involves clearing the person's airways and then alternating heart compression with mouth-to-mouth respiration (aka, for an adult, two breaths, then fifteen compressions, then two more breaths, etc.).

8- Breathing tube: A tube that can be inserted down someone's throat and connected to either a machine or an airbag (-9-) to assist in breathing. This procedure is commonly used in operations, especially ones on a patients heart or lungs.

9- Airbag: One of those balloon-like plastic things that sometimes have a mask on them—used to help people breath.

10- Code Blue Team: A small group of hospital professionals trained especially to handle crash carts, AEDs, and the like.

11- Intravenous: Used to administer treatment; used in administering fluids or medicines into the veins.

12- Lignocaine: Local anaesthetic drug; a synthetic local anaesthetic drug that may be given by injection or applied to a surface. It can also be given intravenously to control heart irregularities.

13- Diazepam: Tranquilizing drug; a tranquilizing drug used to reduce anxiety and tension, and as a muscle relaxant and sedative.

14- EDP: Emergency Department Physician; a board certified emergency physician who oversees the code blue process.

15- Paediatrics: Branch of medicine concerned with children; the branch of medicine concerned with the care and development of children and with the prevention and treatment of children's diseases.

16- Yeah, I know, Jö—well, Joey, I guess—only calls Seto this in the _dubbed_ version, but hey, what the Hell. I felt it fit the situation here. Jö holds a certain respect for Ryo (for reasons that you'll find out later), so he doesn't swear in front of him.

17- Syringe: Instrument for withdrawing and ejecting fluids; an instrument consisting of a piston in a small tube, used in conjunction with a hollow needle or tube for the withdrawal and ejection of fluids and for cleaning wounds. (see also hypodermic syringe)

—-—Hypodermic syringe: Syringe used for injections; a plastic or glass syringe to which a thin hollow needle is attached, used to inject medicine under the skin or to withdraw fluids, especially blood, from under the skin.

18- Disinfectant: Chemical that kills germs; a chemical that destroys or inhibits the growth of micro-organisms that cause disease.

19- Sedative: Drug inducing sedation; a drug or other agent that induces sedation (sleepiness).

20- An intravenous transfers medicine into the body by way of a drip-line, and a needle inserted under the skin into the vein—usually the one in the wrist or on the back of the hand—medicine is contained in a plastic sack which is connected to a thin tube through which medicine gradually travels by way of 'dripping', and then enters the bloodstream through the needle.

21- ALL: Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia; the most common type of leukemia in children (Leukemia: Blood cancer; a type of cancer in which white blood cells displace normal blood. This leads to infection, shortage of red blood cells (anaemia), bleeding, and other disorders, and often proves fatal. Certain types of childhood leukemias respond well to treatment, which includes drugs (chemotherapy) and radiotherapy.)

22- Chemotherapy: Treatment using chemicals; the use of chemical agents to treat diseases, infections, or other disorders, especially cancer.

—-— Radiation: (Radiotherapy) Medical treatment using radiation; the treatment of disease using radiation X-rays or beta rays directed at the body from an external source or emitted by radioactive materials placed within the body.

23- Yes, yes, I know. In the Japanese version Seto either pushes Gozaboro out of a window, killing him, or Gozaboro does it himself after he loses KaibaCorp., but it's important to the plot in this fic that he just 'disappeared'.

24- When I cry, my nose _always_ does this—it gets all sting-y, and that's when I know I'm gonna cry. -sniffle-

25- Trachea: Windpipe. The tube that the body uses to inhale (oxygen) and exhale (carbon dioxide).

—-—Oesophagus: Passage in throat; the passage down which food moves between the throat and the stomach (UK spelling).

26- Yup, Yami came out again. -grins-

**Nachzes:** Whew. _Damn_, that's a lot of Hospitalnese. -giggles at her made-up language/word- HAPPY EASTER! -devours candy-

**Kaiba:** -stares at the third-last paragraph- What. The. _FUCK_! A _CHINA DOLL_! -freaks out- What the fuck kind of music were you listening to!

**Nachzes:** …-shifty eyes- George Winston's "Forest" album—especially track number one and thirteen and fifteen.

**Kaiba:** …I hate you.

**Nachzes:** -chibi grin- Oh, and the medical definitions came from _Encarta ® World English Dictionary © & (P) 1998-2004 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved._ Just thought I should put that in there…. Anyways, so, the plot thickens…-evil laughter-. And, we also meet two new _important_, _plot-developing_ OCs (Original Characters—Sandi and Ryo).

**Review Responses:**

**Meiharu:** Heh heh heh, well, then, this cliff-hanger should give you some relief. It's not really a cliff-hanger at all…-is sad-. Thanks for reviewing! -hands Seto plushie-

**Willowwind Adurois:** The pen thing is _mine_, Girl. -wrenches hand away- Hope you like the update. -gives comforting hug- I love you.

**PyroKittyKat:** Yes! Yes yes _YES_! -punches air- I love my ficcies! IdoIdoIdo! I won't post them if I don't love them! -gives cookies and ice cream-

**StainofCurare:** Yes…well, you'll have to wait 'till next chapter to find out Seto's reaction. -rolls eyes- Do you _know_ how many drafts of this chapter I went through! _Damn_, it was hard! But it all paid off, I admit. A big, _long_ chapter filled with juicy information, and I love it! -chibi grinhands Easter eggs-

**Nenya85:** -grins- Don't I do the best job of keeping people in suspense? Of course, I learned from the best. -bows down to HCG (**High Crystal Guardian**)- Well, glad you reviewed again! -hands drawing of Seto and Yami making out-

**Saggi the Dark Clown:** 'Wai! I loff you! Yes, I will go into deeper detail about the papers later (maybe). They don't really play a big role in the plot…. But, yes, the last chapter was kinda…lifeless. I'm re-uploading it, along with posting this one, so if you want, you could go back and read it, but there's not that much of a change. You do STARS tests, too? I hate those things. I mean, if I can get 100 percent on the reading comprehension test at the end of the year, then do I really need 'em? -sighs- But I hafta do them anyways. Stupid _baka_ teachers. So…why did _Teddy II_ get removed? -cocks head- I liked it…. Oh well. -passes a chibi-Seto plushie huggling a teddy-

**Kaita hito-Kaita mono:** (now **Kaitahito Kaitamona**) -snickers- Yeah, whatever. -gags- You've corrupted me. I can't _believe_ I'm going to write a potionshipping fic….

**Arasoi:** Oh…well, thanks. I just used the exchange rate from my ten-thousand-year-old Social Studies textbook from grade seven (aka, two/three years ago), which was 0.18 dollars US was one yen, or something…. Anyways, thanks for reviewing! -hands Easter candy-

**Koi-Bara:** Okay…Joey fan. -raises eyebrow- Must remember that…. -gives a drawing of Joey pinning Seto to a wall and kissing him madly (yes, Joey's going to be seme in this story, which will be NC-17 on nfiction when I finally get it posted there….)-

**Seto Kaiba's My Babe:** Okay, here's your update. What, you want candy too? Okay. -pushes Easter candy at you-

**squizles: **y thnx! i luv reviews like urs. -giggles madly and gives you a CD of your choice-


	6. Chapter 6: Foolish Games

****

Nachzes: Hooray! I managed to get this written and posted before I leave! Go me! -_chibi _eyes- No lets hope I come home to an inbox full of Review Alerts….

Warnings:  
Future YAOI (JöXSeto), ANGST, MENTIONS OF UNDERAGE RAPE AND CHILD ABUSE

Disclaimer:  
I don't own _Yuu-Gi-Oh: Duel Monsters_, but I do own Sandi, Ryo, and Ai. YAY! I own something! -celebrates-

Summary:  
When Mokuba Kaiba faints in the middle of school, and a devastating revelation concerning his health comes into view, will Seto be able to deal with the added complication to his already problematical life? And what will happen when Yuugi and the gang find out?

****

Author's Notes (A/N's):

****

1) When people are yelling, the words will appear in CAPITAL LETTERS, when people are being sarcastic, it'll show up inside single quotes (apostrophise)

2) "…" People speaking, or a quote

3) '…' Thoughts and/or a voice in someone's head, or written words

4) Memories are in _italics_, as are any 'stressed' words and/or syllables, and Japanese/French/whatever words (not English). If something is 'stressed' in a flashback or something else that's in _italics_, then it will be in plain text, because _italics_ on top of the _italics_ cancels the _italics_ out; now, are we clear?

5) At the end, anything that has a (number) beside it will be translated, anything with a -number- beside it will be explained.

6) '/_flash_/' indicates a change in time—if it is important, in between the two '/'s, it will say how much time passes in **bold** print, instead of '_flash_'. In a flashback or memory, the word 'flash' will be in plain text. See the _italics_ rule above.

7) Japanese names and ages

8) /…/ Yuugi to Yami Yuugi

9) /…_italics_…/ Yami Yuugi to Yuugi

****

Shattered Masks, Healed Hearts

Book One: Opposites Attract

Chapter Six: Foolish Games

By: Nachzes Black-Rider

—Mokuba POV—

__

I remember running in Gym class, air whooshing in and out of my lungs.

I remember sudden, searing pain as a passing boy's careless elbow caught me in the ribs, clipping a bruise that had appeared that morning—I hadn't wanted to tell Seto. He would have worried.

I remember falling, falling, towards the hard, unforgiving wood floor, and more agonizing pain as we connected.

I remember someone screaming, and feet pounding, and the sweaty, stale, trapped-air smell of the school gym right next to my nose before I blacked out and sank into darkness.

And after that, I remember no more.

"Mokuba….

"Mokuba, Honey, wake up. I need to ask you some questions."

I rolled over, and groaned at the pain that it brought, squeezing my eyes shut tighter. "Go 'way," I mumbled thickly, noting the sour, acrid taste in my mouth. Vomit. I made a face, and swiped a hand across my chin. "Ugh," I muttered, pushing my sweat-dampened bangs off my forehead and squinting up at the nurse standing over me. Hair as black as mine, cropped short in a pixie cut, large, almond-shaped chocolate-brown eyes, and light mahogany skin. Ai.

"_Isha_ (1) Momochi?" I mumbled, and she smiled in response, flicking a strand of hair out of my eyes.

"Hello, Kiddo," she said brightly, plopping down in a chair beside the bed I was in. Vaguely I took in the IV pole beside the bed, the _CALL NURSE_ button on the bed, and the too-thin pillow under my head.

'Damn it.'

"It happened again?" I asked, already knowing the answer, but needing to confirm it.

"Yup."

"Aw crap, Seto's gonna be hysterical. …Come to think of it, why isn't he here?" Concern for my brother rose up in my throat like bile, and I could taste the panic—feel the ever-present band around my heart tightening.

"He's alright now. Apparently he gave Sandi quite the shock when he arrived, but he's okay now—Sandi's making him rest up."

"Good," I said resolutely, "he needs it."

Ai quirked a delicately shaped eyebrow at me, and the corner of her mouth twitched. "Enough about Seto," she said, "it's Mokuba Time." She pulled out her clipboard, and I rolled my eyes.

"Is this really necessary?"

"Yes. Now: What's your name?"

"Mokuba James Kaiba."

"Good. Your age?"

"Twelve years, two months, and seven days."

"Lovely. What's the last thing you remember?"

'Seto harrying himself until he's half-dead to try and keep me alive and well and trying to make himself forget.' "Gym class."

"Hmm…closest relation?"

"Older brother."

"Great. Now—how many fingers am I holding up?" She waved a hand in front of my face.

I sank deeper into my pillow, sulking, but replied all the same (though a bit sullenly), "Three, Ai. Now can I go or not?"

"We're done, but no, you can't leave. The hospital wants to run some tests—"

"So run them."

"We can't until your brother gets here. You know we need his signature to authorize these."

I groaned, and flopped back onto the bed, making the thin mattress protest noisily. Ai frowned at me disapprovingly.

"Mokuba…."

I rolled over to put my back to her, and she sighed, setting her clipboard down on the end table and switching her seat from her chair to the foot of the bed. "Mokuba, what's wrong?"

"Dun' wanna talk 'bou' 't," I mumbled into the pillow, knowing my voice was muffled, knowing I was talking too quietly, knowing that my tone flashed _End of Conversation_ in big, hot pink neon lights, but somehow hoping that Ai would pressure me into telling her all the same.

"C'mon, _Watashi no Chiisai Ba no Moku_ (2); spill. Don't be like this." Ai rubbed my shoulder through the blanket, and I sniffled, feeling my nose become stuffy and my eyes fill with tears. My nose prickled unpleasantly, and I rubbed it with the corner of the bed sheet, a tear dropping with a small _plop _onto the pristine white surface. Wordlessly, Ai leaned over me and plucked the small box of Kleenex off the end table, handing it to me silently. Yanking one out, I blew my nose noisily, and wiped my eyes on the back of my hand, clutching the used Kleenex in my palm. Quietly, Ai spoke, rubbing my shoulder comfortingly as she did so. "It's about Seto, isn't it?" she asked. I nodded in response, and she clucked her tongue sympathetically, brushing my hair back behind my ear.

I was reminded, briefly, of my mother. I didn't remember her well, but Seto had told me—once—that I looked just like her. Except for my eyes. I had my father's eyes, he'd murmured. I was sure this was the sort of thing that my Mom would be doing, if she were still alive.

Then I remembered that this was how Seto had acted at first, all those times he thought I had the flu, and he'd sit by my side and brush my hair back behind my ear, and hum quietly to me—as if I wasn't drowsy enough already—and that made me tear up even more, because he _wasn't here_ this time, and I _wanted_ him to be here, because I was scared. And when I finally realised that, I started sobbing quietly, and Ai stopped clucking, took me in her arms, and instead began making soothing noises, petting my hair and whispering softly.

Gradually, I stopped, and she took her hand off my head and wrapped that arm around me as well. "It's okay, Kiddo," she whispered. "He'll be alright, he'll come, don't worry."

"I want him here," I replied, hiccoughing slightly. "I want him _here_."

"I know, Mokuba. I know—but he's _not_ here right now, and you're gonna have to go with that for now, alright?"

I nodded, and she let me go, but stayed sitting where she was, studying me as I picked at the sterile white blanket covering me—one of a thousand others in this hospital—and gazed blankly out the window, letting my mind wander.

'Please, Seto, come soon. I'm scared….'

****

—Sandi POV—

I could feel the tears—hot, salty, and wet—as they trickled down my cheeks; could feel Seto's confused sapphire eyes fixated on me; could feel his concern, and it hurt. Because he wouldn't be able to handle it this time—I _knew_ he wouldn't be able to handle a second round of what he'd gone through before. And it pained me that despite me knowing that…I could—and would—do nothing.

And wasn't that just the story of my life (or at least the part where I had known Seto); I had known him when he'd been living with Gozaboro, had known what was happening to him—I had _treated_ him, for God's sake!—and yet…as an intern, waiting to get her full medical degree, I had done nothing. And look where it had gotten Seto now.

Though he didn't know it, Jö's words had hurt. I knew what peoples' opinions of Seto were, of course, but when someone actually came out and said it to me, with such conviction….

And I couldn't do anything but think that it was my fault. _My_ fault that he had had to go through all that pain; _my _ fault that he had had to do it on his own.

And now—I couldn't help but add—my fault that his face would cave when I told him where his brother was. What was happening.

What he would have to go through again.

So, as the tears rolled down my face, I let them, and looked away, because I didn't want to be the one who broke the news to him. I didn't want to hold myself responsible for adding yet another painful memory to the collection that he already held.

And so, instead of answering, I shook my head, and stared out the window, continuing to cry silently. Because it hurt.

"_Sandi_…? _Sandi_, _please_…. _Where's my brother_?" Again, in English. I shook my head again, and wiped my eyes with my lab coat sleeve. I had to do this. I knew it. But still…I didn't want to be the one to destroy a boy's hopes. Not again.

"…Kyoto," I whispered, still not looking at him, but I heard his sharp intake of breath, and I knew that it had, indeed, hurt him.

The room was silent for a few moments—excepting the sound of breathing—and then there was the creak of bedsprings. I wheeled around, eyes snapping, locking onto Seto, who was pushing himself off the bed. I glared at him.

"And just what do you think you're doing!" I asked, completely forgetting the presence of Yuugi and Jö and speaking in Japanese. Seto stared at me incredulously.

"Mokuba is in Kyoto, yet you expect me to still stay here in bed for what reason?"

I seethed at his lack of self-concern, and crossed my arms over my chest furiously. "Seto James Kaiba, you came to this hospital after sprinting a full seven blocks, and then proceeded to hyperventilate and go into shock in the middle of the foyer. _You have not been eating or drinking properly again_—WHAT DID I TELL YOU LAST TIME THIS HAPPENED!

"Of course, you traumatized the poor receptionist. She had to call in an entire team of doctors to check you over and make sure you were still alive—I'll tell you something Young Man, you are _so_ damn lucky right now that I was on duty and was able to persuade the others that I would take care of it.

"So I bring you in here to rest up, and guess what? Five minutes later I come back in, and you go all hysterical on me again, then go into cardiac arrest -1-!" Seto's eyes widened. "Yes, Seto Kaiba. _Cardiac arrest_. Again—_what did I tell you_? GOD DAMN IT, YOU CAN'T KEEP DOING THIS!"

I took in a deep breath and glared at Seto, who flinched slightly. My eyes softened.

"Seto, you can't just ignore your health in favour of your brother's—it won't make him any better."

Pained sapphire eyes looked back at me, and I sighed. "You know it's true Seto, and if you lose any more weight the hospital will want me to put you on an intravenous—you're _already_ thirty-two pounds underweight—"

I halted abruptly as I heard a gasp from behind me, and I felt my heart sink as crystalline eyes snapped to attention, focusing abruptly on the area behind me. Very slowly, Seto raised one trembling finger in the direction of…:

Yuugi and Jö.

'Uh oh…' I thought.

"Sandi?"

"Yes, Seto?" I inquired, blatantly stalling for time.

The brunet grit his teeth, not to be dissuaded, and clenched his fists so tightly that they shook. "Would you mind," he hissed, eyes narrowed pointedly at the other two teens, "explaining to me what _they_ are doing here?" He spat the _they_ out as if it were a horrible taste in his mouth, and a small rivulet of blood escaped his closed fist and trickled along on pale finger before dropping onto the linoleum.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Yuugi wince at this, space out, and then come back to reality, suddenly taking on a very regal and commanding air. "Kaiba," he said, and, eyes burning blue flame, Seto turned towards him. "I suggest you sit back down," Yuugi said, meeting Seto's glare with one of his own, although his was more demanding than threatening. "You can't expect do anything properly when you're so blinded by anger," he continued, "you must calm down."

Seto exploded. "CALM DOWN! _CALM DOWN_! HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO CALM DOWN WHEN MOKUBA IS IN KYOTO!" he shouted, not even stopping to think about the consequences of his words.

"Kaiba," Yuugi persisted, "you've only just recovered from severe shock! You're still adjusting—and you've got drugs running through your system! You should lie down—"

"Fuck lying down Yuugi! Fuck all of this—I'm _gone_!" Seto wheeled to leave, and Yuugi and Jö's eyes widened. In all of the confusion, Seto hadn't realized his shirt was missing, and I hadn't bothered to inform him….

'Crap!' I thought, my head swirling. "Seto, your shirt!" I yelped, heedless in my panic. 'Oh God, oh God, oh God….'

Seto froze mid-step.

"Hey, Kaiba, what's wrong with your back?" I heard Jö ask. Seto shook his head and turned around—I imagined he was repressing the urge to cover himself like a girl.

"What do you mean, _what's wrong with my back_, _Bonkatsu_ (3)? There's nothing wrong with my back." Seto spoke firmly, but he didn't seem to want to meet Jö's eyes, instead focusing his gaze on the window, keeping his bare back to the wall. Jö gave him a look.

"Sure, Kaiba, there's nothing wrong with your back." He paused. "Or your arms."

Seto's head snapped up and around to face the blond. "What!"

Jö smirked at him, and I could sense Seto getting edgy—he didn't like being the one with no control.

"Well, while you were writhing on the bed whimpering like a frightened puppy"—here Jö smirked. Clearly he was enjoying the reversal of the tables, unlike Seto—"Yuugi noticed scars on your arm. What, is there nothing wrong with your arm, either?"

Seto glared at him defiantly, degradingly, but I could tell by the way he clenched and unclenched his fists that he was nervous. How could he _not_ be? A secret that he had managed to keep for years might well be uncovered—and though he would undoubtedly deny everything, there would still be talk. Rumours. Seto's eyes flickered to me, and I took a breath in sharply through my nose and nodded, stepping forward somewhat reluctantly.

"That's enough, Jö," I said sharply, and the blond's head snapped around to me, surprise written all over his face—apparently he'd been too wrapped up in his little glare-fest with Seto that he hadn't noticed me stepping forward. His eyes narrowed, and he crossed his arms over his chest defiantly.

"No, it damn well _isn't_ enough," he snapped. "This inconsiderate bastard"—he jabbed his thumb in Seto's direction—"needs to be told! Taken down a notch! He _obviously_ has lived too much of a pampered, spoiled life to know what it's like—now, what the Hell's wrong with your back, Moneybags!"

Seto stiffened, and his eyes narrowed further so that they were mere navy blue slits. "Fine, _Koinu_ (4)," he spat. "You want to know the hard truth, you'll get the hard truth!"

I stared at him in disbelief. Was he really going to do this? He hadn't even wanted to tell _me_, and I was the one who had _examined_ him after Gozaboro had….

"You want the hard truth, Pup?" Seto was asking.

Jö squared his shoulders and met Seto's furious navy gaze with his own fiery one. "Damn straight I want the truth, Kaiba. You can't hide from me anymore."

Seto's eyes flickered to Yuugi (who was once again docile-looking). "Yuugi?" he snarled. Gulping, Yuugi nodded jerkily, obviously nervous.

"Fine," Seto said, and switched his gaze to Jö again. "First things first. You saw Gozaboro in Battle City, right?" He waited for the others to nod before continuing. "He's not my biological father. He's the man that adopted Mokuba and I." He paused.

"But…if you were adopted, then that means…." Yuugi railed off into silence, and Seto smirked at the teen's unwillingness to say the words, and laughed bitterly.

"Yes, Yuugi—I'm an orphan. On my ninth birthday my parents died in a car crash when they tried to save me and my brother from hitting the tree instead. I assume you were looking at my right arm when you saw the scars?"

Yuugi nodded wordlessly.

"That scar on my wrist is from that night—I ran away and hid in a locked room and slit my wrist. Mokuba saved my life; and now I wish he hadn't."

Yuugi stared, and Jö shook his head as if attempting to clear it. "What?" he said. "Wait a minute. Let me get this straight—you're telling me that you want to die? You? Seto Kaiba? President of the company that basically controls Japan's entire economy? The former Duel Monsters World Champion? The richest teen in the World, and currently competing for the top spot with Bill Gates?" He shook his head again. "I'm sorry, but this isn't connecting for me."

"Tch," Seto said, and rolled his eyes. "So typical of a street kid. Thinking that money buys happiness. Don't you pay attention in Social Studies? Standard of living and quality of life just happen to be two different things."

"Yeah," Jö said, "but…."

"But what, _Inu_?" Seto snapped. "BUT PAMPERED, SPOILED YOUNG TEENAGE-CEOS WEREN'T ABUSED AS A CHILD? BUT SETO KAIBA COULDN'T HAVE ONCE BEEN SETO SOMETHING-ELSE? BUT A COLD-HEARTED ARROGANT BASTARD LIKE ME COULD NEVER HAVE BEEN RAPED BY HIS PEDOPHILIAC ADOPTIVE-FATHER? _BUT_—" he froze, realizing what he had just let out.

Jö's eyes were as wide as Yuugi's, and the latter's were swimming with tears, both teens staring unbelievingly at Seto.

"…Shit," he whispered, and bolted.

"SETO!" I yelled, and sprinted after him, but he had already slammed and locked the bathroom door behind him. There was a rush of water, and I knew he'd turned the sink on full blast to drown out his sobs. 'Seto…' I thought mournfully, turning away from the door and slumping against it, resting my head in one hand.

"…Oh my God…" Yuugi said, and I grit my teeth together. "I never knew…."

"No one did," I said, and straightened. Paused. "No one but Gozaboro, me, the Big Five, a few more employees who have high-paying jobs to ensure their silence…and Seto."

I heard a harsh intake of breath from Jö, and laughed hollowly. "What?" I said. "Is it like he said? You think of him so…so…cruelly? Don't you understand—no one could actually _be_ that emotionless! It's all a farce! How could you _not_ see it!" I was yelling now, angry at myself, and them, and at Seto. Tears of remorse and vehemence flooded my eyes and rolled down my cheeks, and I wiped them away furiously. "How could you not see?" I whispered. Yuugi looked away, as if ashamed, and Jö glared at the floor stubbornly, playing with the cuff of his school uniform and scuffing his sneakers along the tiling.

In the uncomfortable quiet, we could hear Seto's sobbing from the bathroom, even with the rushing water.

(1) _Isha_: _Doctor_

(2) _Watashi no Chiisai Ba no Moku_: _My Little Horse of Wood_

(3) _Bonkatsu_: _Moron_

(4) _Koinu_: _Puppy_

-1- Cardiac Arrest: heart attack: the sudden stopping of the heartbeat and therefore of the pumping action of the heart.  
Cardiac arrest requires immediate treatment to prevent brain damage and death.  
_Encarta ® World English Dictionary © & (P) 1998-2004 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved._

****

Nachzes: There is some small part of me which questions my sanity. Thankfully, this part of me is small. It also is well aware that I have no sanity to speak of, and therefore it doesn't speak up often. Thank Ra. Oh, and BTW, I have the outline for chapter seven done, so I'll work on that while I'm gone. Bye!

****

Review Responses:

Meiharu: I think it gets better every chapter 'cause I'm getting more developed every chapter. Now that the plot is taking form in my mind and beginning to grow details (I've even had bunnies for the sequel!), I can spend more time on revising and planning and putting the chapters together more carefully. Thanks for the review!

Willowwind Adurois: Okay…umm…yes, I updated, and…your poor sister. (NOT! LOL.) What else to say? Oh, yes…I SHALL NEVER END THE TORTURE OF MY SETO-KOI! MUAHAHAHAHA!

DJ Silence Yuy: Oh ho ho, Seto won't learn the meaning of that word for a while…. Thanks for the compliment to Sandi—I like her too! How'd you find her in this chapter?

Chocolate Coated Popcorn: Mm…chocolate…. -drools- I dunno, seems to me you made perfect sense. Nah, haven't done any of it first hand (-is in grade ten-), but I did do a lot of research…. Good to see that it looks like I know my stiff, though. I know a couple people didn't appreciate all the Hospitalnese -cough**WhiteLightning**cough-

Crimson Exxxtasy: Oh, don't worry, Dear—I will continue. I shall _never_ discontinue a fanfic! At least not one that has a purpose and a plot…. Thanks for the review!

Koi-Bara: -blushes at the praise- Thank you! Oh, and is this quick enough?

WhiteLightning: Eh? What was the babble at the end with the numbers and exclamation marks? Besides, I have my reasons for Seto being uke, Dear…. Oh yes, I have my reasons…. -cackles and flips off **Crimson Eyed Dragon**, whom she is mad as Hell at-

Sishyu: Okay then, I will continue! Review again—thanks for this one!

BH: Yup, they have something in common! But not _everything_. I find it so overdone when their lives (or, in Seto's case, childhood life) are the exact same! Well…almost. Thanks for the review!

hikarinotenshi15: So…when are you going to get around to reading more? Thanks for the review, though. Here's an update, and maybe you'll review again!

Nenya85: Why thank you! -still cannot believe THE **Nenya85** is reviewing her fic- Yeah, I like Sandi too—she's also an easy POV to write in because I can mould her personality and play with it a bit. Easier to keep in character, definitely.

Seto Kaiba's My Babe: Yup! Lots of Hospitalnese. But…it _was_ from the POV of a doctor, so…. I think it adds, instead of taking away. I also find you don't really need to check and see what they mean, because of the whole 'word clues in context' thing. The definitions are there if you want them, though.

Jade Kaiba: 'Course you'll see more! If you read anymore, I guess. Thanks for the review!

AnimeXFreak: Thanks! I try to keep it realistic—I like a bit of reality with my fiction, please! No talking beavers for me! -cough_TheLiontheWitchandtheWardrobe_cough-

curlyQ: I try to get people addicted to it—then they review again! Thanks for the review, and trust me, I am VERY honoured—no, EXTREMELY honoured—that you are reading this under the circumstances. I think (and please don't take this the wrong way) that you don't read yaoi more for the fact that it tends to have a lot more sexual implications, right? Well, this one's going to be pretty light on ff.n. It doesn't get anywhere until chapter twenty in that way, and even then that won't be and So by all means, read away!

yami no koneko: Well…as you can see, Mokuba's a little worried, too—but he'll get better! Maybe….

Kaida: …The startling revelation is in chapter five, Deah. I suggest you read it. -sweatdrop-

Kurosaisei: -blush- Thanks. I liked that one too—Sandi's one of my faves. (Obviously!)

squizzles: I do so loff teh cliffies. -noble look- But yes, thanks for the review…and here's some Mokuba POV to make you feel better (or not, since he's so angst-y….).


	7. Chapter 7: Because of You

****

Warnings:  
Future YAOI (JöXSeto), ANGST, MENTIONS OF UNDERAGE RAPE AND CHILD ABUSE

Disclaimer:  
I don't own _Yuu-Gi-Oh: Duel Monsters_, but I do own Sandi, Ryo, and Ai. You steal; I hunt you down and keel you ded. (Unless you ask nicely, and then maybe I lend. Perhaps. If you bribe me….) Chapter title stolen from Kelly Clarkson's new CD (_Breakaway_). (Oh…the chapter title for chapter six was borrowed from Jewel.)

Summary:  
When Mokuba Kaiba faints in the middle of school, and a devastating revelation concerning his health comes into view, will Seto be able to deal with the added complication to his already problematical life? And what will happen when Yuugi and the gang find out?

****

Author's Notes (A/N's):

****

1) When people are yelling, the words will appear in CAPITAL LETTERS, when people are being sarcastic, it'll show up inside single quotes (apostrophise)

2) "…" People speaking, or a quote

3) '…' Thoughts and/or a voice in someone's head, or written words

4) Memories are in _italics_, as are any 'stressed' words and/or syllables, and Japanese/French/whatever words (not English). If something is 'stressed' in a flashback or something else that's in _italics_, then it will be in plain text, because _italics_ on top of the _italics_ cancels the _italics_ out; now, are we clear?

5) At the end, anything that has a (number) beside it will be translated, anything with a -number- beside it will be explained.

6) A bolded _-o-_ indicates a time change. If needed, the amount of time that passed will be added between two _-o-_.

7) Japanese names and ages

8) /…/ Yuugi to Yami Yuugi

9) /…_italics_…/ Yami Yuugi to Yuugi

****

Shattered Masks, Healed Hearts

Book One: Opposites Attract

Chapter Seven: Because of You

—Yuugi POV—

__

"But what, Inu_? BUT PAMPERED, SPOILED YOUNG TEENAGE-CEOS WEREN'T ABUSED AS A CHILD? BUT SETO KAIBA COULDN'T HAVE ONCE BEEN SETO SOMETHING-ELSE? BUT A COLD-HEARTED ARROGANT BASTARD LIKE ME COULD NEVER HAVE BEEN RAPED BY HIS PEDOPHILIAC ADOPTIVE-FATHER? _BUT_—"_

'_But_ what?' I thought, as broken sobs—overlaid by the sound of rushing water—resonated in the awkward silence formed between Jö, _Isha_ Richard, and I. 'What else could have possibly happened? How could _any_ of it have happened? How could someone as strong as Kaiba-_kun_ be abused? How could he be…'—I swallowed hard—'_raped_?' Chancing a glance at Richard-_san_, I saw her leaning against the door, crying silently. Feeling a prickling in my eyes in response, I blinked. A tear rolled down my cheek, and dripped off my chin to the floor.

__

"…no one could actually be_ that emotionless!_

"…all a farce!

__

"How could you not see?"

Guilt wormed its way through my mind as more tears slipped down my face. I stared silently at the floor—vision blurred horribly, so the tiles swam together in an endless sea of white and blue, morphing into different shapes each time I blinked my eyes. 'I should have seen it,' I told myself, as another two tears escaped. 'I should have…I should have….' I released a choking sob, cupping my hand hurriedly over my mouth, watching the moving floor without actually seeing it. I felt sick. The full implications and meaning of Kaiba-_kun_'s words were just making themselves known to me. Raped. He had been _raped_! Questions flew through my guilt-plagued head with a speed I had never experienced before.

__

How did it happen?

How many times?

How old was he?

Did it hurt a lot?

Why didn't he tell anyone?

Was that man…was Gozaboro holding something over him? Threatening him in some way?

Didn't anyone else see the signs? How could the maids not know!

Then…:

__

…Does Mokuba_ know what his brother has been through?_

I felt bile rising up in my throat—along with the half-digested remnants of school lunch—and swallowed hard to make the lump disappear, trying vainly to blink back more tears.

'My God…what have Jö and I done?'

But I already knew. The two of us had opened the biggest proverbial _can of worms_ in either of our lives, and now we were stuck in the mess with no way to get out. For better—or for worse—the four of us (_Isha_ Richard, Jö, Kaiba-_kun_, and I) were bound; our fates twisted in some sick sort of knot that no one could untangle, never mind wonder how it had formed.

/_Perhaps it has always been there, _Hikari/ the Pharaoh said. /_Perhaps it was written that this would come to be—perhaps this is your destiny._/

/But I don't _want_ this destiny/

/_Kaiba has never wanted destiny, either. It has always come to pass, however. There's no use resisting._/

/I can understand his reasons for not accepting the fact/ I muttered inwardly, my voice dark. My world was spiralling out of control, and there was nothing I could do. I longed for the chaotic—yet always fated in my favour—setting of Duelling Tournaments. Was this how Kaiba-_kun_ had felt all those times when I had beaten him down at the top of all those towers? The wind (gentle on the ground, but ferociously strong at the higher altitude) whipping his hair must have felt like an unknown force ripping apart his carefully pieced together life.

'_Kami-sama_…this is my entire fault.'

/_It is not, Yuugi. You cannot change what has happened—it is not your fault what happened to Kaiba in his past. There is nothing you could have done, my Light._/

I accepted the chastising-comfort without comment, and continued to gaze at the linoleum, wishing that Jö had never picked up that phone when it rang….

Suddenly, Jö's head shot up, his shaggy blond hair flopping, and he turned in the direction of the bathroom door. Richard-_san_ had noticed it, too—she had turned expectantly towards the wooden barrier as well.

The water had been turned off.

With a small _click_, the doorknob turned, the tumblers in the lock clicking into place and allowing it to swing inwards. As he stepped out, Kaiba-_kun_ appeared perfectly composed—his back straight; hair perfectly coiffed and freshly combed with water; face flat and expressionless; eyes as sharp and cutting as ever, not swollen, red, or bloodshot in the slightest.

"Sandi," he said—and I vaguely recognised that his voice wasn't shaking at all—"I need my shirt, please. If I'm to go see my brother, I cannot go shirtless."

__

Isha Richard gave him a critical glance, the single look full of anger, love, sorrow, and understanding. "If you must," she said cryptically, and Kaiba-_kun_ smirked in response.

"Mustn't I always," he said, voice bitter, and pain flashed through Richard-_san_'s eyes.

"You always did value his life over your own," she commented, passing him his school jacket and a long-sleeved, white, high-collared shirt as he speared her with a glare.

"He deserves it," was the clipped response as Kaiba-_kun_ buttoned up his jacket, not looking at Richard-_san_. "Briefcase?"

I froze, and then shot a fear-filled look at Jö, my heart pounding and my mind frozen from dread. He returned my glance with one of his own, hazel eyes wide as Richard-_san_ reached down between the bed and the end table, pulled out the case, and handed it to Kaiba-_kun_. He took it without comment, and I let out a breath of relief, the action seconded by Jö.

Turning to leave, Kaiba-_kun _got a strange look on his face and held up his briefcase in front of him, scrutinizing it. My breath quickened again, heart pounding, as he laid the case down on the bed and reached to open it….

As soon as the latch clicked and the top was flipped back, Kaiba-_kun_'s face twisted horribly—a mixture of something like rage and pain battled for control—and he drew in a deep, somewhat shaking breath, closing his eyes and bowing his head slightly, shoulders tense. "Sandi?" he asked.

"Yes?"

"Why is Mokuba's medical information scattered all over my business reports?" he said, grinding his teeth as he fought for control over his emotions.

Richard-_san_'s eyes widened, and she cast a quick glance around as if searching for an excuse. "I…don't know," she finally said. "Yuugi and Jö brought it in; they said you'd left it at the school—"

"I did," Kaiba-_kun_ said in a completely foreign tone of voice, almost as if he were remembering something. I traded panicked glances with Jö again, and directed my gaze down towards the floor as _Isha _Richard shot us a cautionary look. Jö coughed nervously and stepped forwards, running a hand through his shaggy locks.

"Uh…_anö _(1)…Kaiba?"

"What, _Inu_?"

Jö took a deep breath as if steeling himself and let it out slowly, then opened his mouth. "I did it."

Kaiba-_kun_ turned, a strange look on his face. "What do you mean?" he asked, voice tight, and suddenly I recognised the expression he had, and why it looked so out of place on him. Seto Kaiba looked as if he was about to cry.

And, for some inexplicable reason, this thought blew me away.

Apparently Jö was also taken aback (whether this was because of Kaiba-_kun_'s facial expression or because he was still alive after admitting what he had was debatable, however), because he took a minute before answering.

"I…uh…found the secret compartment…" he mumbled, his voice so low by the end that you could hardly hear it at all, never mind distinguish what he was saying. However, it was apparent that Kaiba-_kun_ had understood, because his lips tightened invariably, and his eyes flashed.

"Why?" he asked, curt voice clipped and sharp.

"Because…because…—"

"Because you really are such a dog that you can't keep your nose out of other people's private business, is that it!" Kaiba-_kun_ seethed, fists clenched at his sides. "Do you even know what you've _done_, Mutt! Do you know that I could have you arrested, sent to trial, and put in jail for your—obviously thoughtless—actions!"

Now it was Jö's turn to look affronted. He drew himself up and looked Kaiba-_kun_ straight in the eye, his voice rising to a tumult. "Oh yeah, Kaiba? Well, then, let's see you do it! ARREST ME!"

Silence, except for Jö's heavy breathing. Slowly, a smirk spread across his face.

"But you won't, will you? You're too afraid of what the media will do if you _did_ arrest me—you'd have to provide evidence! You'd have to _show them_ the information that I had seen! And you won't do that, will you Kaiba? You don't want Mokuba's illness to become public, do you? Does it frighten you to have no power, Kaiba? Well, I don't know if what your stepfather did wasn't totally deserved by how you're acting—!"

__

SLAP!

Richard-_san_ glared furiously at Jö, the hand she'd used to strike him across the face clenched at her side, trembling. "How dare you?" she whispered. "How can you even _think_ of saying that after you know what he's gone through! You have no right to—"

"I HAVE EVERY RIGHT!" Jö yelled, fury shining in his eyes. "EVERY RIGHT TO CHALLENGE HIM—EVERY RIGHT TO QUESTION THE WAY HE ACTS TOWARDS ME!"

"AND WHEN HAVE YOU _EVER_ TREATED HIM ANY DIFFERENT!" Richard-_san _shouted back. "DID YOU WELCOME HIM INTO YOUR POSSE WITH OPEN ARMS? DID YOU EVEN _CONSIDER_ ASKING ABOUT HIS LIFE AND HIS PAST? NO—BECAUSE HE'S _RICH_!"

"YEAH? WELL, HAS HE EVER NEEDED TO STRUGGLE TO FIND FOOD? HAS _ANY_ OF HIS LIFE BEEN WANTING!"

"YOU THINK ALL HAPPINESS HAS TO DO WITH ARE MATERIAL GOODS, DON'T YOU? YOU THINK THAT JUST BECAUSE YOU—"

"WILL YOU _BOTH_ JUST _SHUT UP_!" somebody roared deafeningly, and Jö whirled to face Kaiba-_kun_, who was standing by the door, one hand on the knob, with an unreadable expression on his face—anger, exasperation, and something else.

Silence dropped down upon us once again like a cloak, and Jö shuffled his feet nervously, still shooting occasional venom-filled looks at Sandi and Kaiba-_kun_.

"_Finally_," Kaiba-_kun_ muttered, and shook his head, opening the door.

"Wait!" _Isha _Richard called, and he paused, half-in, half-out of the room. He turned slowly, and raised an eyebrow delicately.

"Yes, Sandi?" he asked. "Is there something else I should know? Some _other_ shameless breach of my privacy? Another cry of outrage about how I chose to run my life? Still more unfeeling questions about my past?"

__

Isha Richard and Jö both glared at him.

I coughed, and looked down at the floor. "Actually," I said, in a hesitant whisper, "you _did_ promise to tell Jö and I about your…" I coughed nervously again, "past," I finished, my voice barely distinguishable.

Slowly—much slower than I've ever seen someone move before. _Ever_—Kaiba-_kun_ turned again. His blue eyes locked onto mine, and I gulped as I met them, feeling myself shrink away from the ice in there even as the Pharaoh added some of his will to mine.

"What?" he asked, his voice even lower than mine, but rough and hissing.

I shook my head quickly, and backed away, looking back down at my shoes quickly, but apparently Jö saw my trailing off as a window of opportunity, and leaped to fill the gap I'd left in the "conversation". If you could call it that.

"Yeah, Kaiba, you did," he said. Then, louder, bolstered on by confidence (despite the warning looks Richard-_san_ and I both gave him), he continued. "You promised, and I've never known the great CEO of Kaiba Corporation to go back on his word." He stared at Kaiba hard, amber eyes daring the other to change his mind.

Kaiba-_kun_ continued to stare back for several long minutes, his face impassable as the seconds dragged by intolerably slowly. Silence hung over us in a heavy cloud…a tense, terse, _touchable_ silence, broken only by our strained, quiet breathing and the fuzzy, tinny quality of the radio in the next room over, and the slow, laborious ticking of the clock….

Finally, Kaiba-_kun_ opened his mouth, and spoke. "I don't have to listen to this shit," he snarled. "I'm leaving." He turned on his heel and yanked the door open, ready to step out into the hall just as Jö called back at him:

"You'll remember you did this, then, when I tell all your business partners that you can't be counted on to stick to what you say?" he asked, a smirk curling the corners of his mouth.

Kaiba-_kun_ growled and whipped around for the third of fourth time already. "Don't you know enough!" he said savagely, the words coming out gritty as if his teeth were clenched hard. His eyes sparked, his lips were pressed into one thin, tight line, and his face was white, bloodless with fury.

"Jö," Richard-_san_ said, voice soft, but commanding, "don't. I highly doubt you even _want_ to know."

Jö paused slightly, indecision flickering through his eyes, and I nearly sighed in relief, but then Kaiba-_kun_ smirked infuriatingly at him, eyes glittering and taunting, _I knew you didn't have the nerve…_ and Jö's resolve was back.

"I want to know," he insisted, crossing his arms over his chest and meeting Kaiba-_kun_'s angry blue eyes.

Lips twisted in some sort of disgusted grimace, and Kaiba-_kun_'s eyes narrowed briefly in fury so great that the air around him seemed to hum with it…and then his mouth curved into a degrading smirk, and his eyes seemed to flash slyly, somewhat like a cat's, before lips parted. "Alright," he purred dangerously, "fine. You want it, you got it. Sandi, if you would please…?" He held out a hand, as if expecting something, and Richard-_san_ looked at him blankly. Kaiba-_kun_ rolled sapphire eyes, and stepped into the room, closing the door behind him and leaning up against it all in one fluid motion. "My medical records, please," he said. "I know you have them—you carry them with you everywhere, Sandi. After all, we don't want to miss anything, and there's _so_ much there…." His eyes flicked to Jö for all of two seconds, as if checking him for any waver in his will, and then turned back to Richard-_san_, who was holding out a thick, slightly worn manila folder crammed with papers. "Thank you, Sandi," he said, opening the folder. "Shall we begin?" he asked Jö.

Blinking, Jö speared the folder with a glance, before he nodded curtly, refusing to meet Kaiba-_kun_'s eyes. The latter raised one eyebrow delicately, but turned back to the documents all the same, and began to read.

"Nineteen ninety-nine, November twelfth, twenty-three hundred hours. Kaiba, Seto admitted to Tokyo General Hospital at age ten with severe blood loss and lacerations. Currently: Unconscious. Heart rate: Shallow; slow; but regular. Physical state: Poor…." Here he paused, and lifted his eyes to Jö, a smirk lacing his features, before continuing.

"Reason for injuries: Unknown; patient says he fell while riding his bike, and landed on some broken glass; foul play suspect—often mumbles in sleep about brother, and stepfather.

"Nineteen ninety-nine, November fifteenth, fourteen hundred hours. Kaiba, Seto admitted to Tokyo General Hospital at age ten with broken arm and some minor injuries. Bruising is severe, but no internal bleeding—several small cuts and scrapes apparent, especially on back and hands. Currently: Conscious. Heart rate: Normal. Physical state: Slightly underweight, but healthy. Reason for injuries: Unknown. Patient says he fell down the stairs while carrying a glass.

"Nineteen ninety-nine, December thirtieth, oh two hundred hours. Kaiba, Seto admitted to Tokyo General Hospital at age ten with a mild concussion. Currently: Sleeping. Heart rate: Regular. Physical state: Underweight and pale, but stable. Reason for injuries: Fainted while staying up late and fell out of his chair.

"Two thousand, January fourth, oh nine hundred hours. Kaiba, Seto admitted to Tokyo General Hospital at age ten with dizziness and severe cramping in abdomen. Currently: Conscious. Heart rate: Low. Physical state: Malnourished -1- and slightly anaemic -2-. Reason for ailments: See above.

"Two thousand, January seventh, sixteen hundred hours. Kaiba, Seto admitted to Tokyo General Hospital at age ten with fainting spells and minor bruising and lacerations. Currently: Conscious. Heart rate: Low. Physical state: Underweight, malnourished, and slightly anaemic. Reason for ailments: See above. Reason for injuries: Unknown." Again, he paused, as if allowing the words to sink into our brains, then went back to reading, his voice a steady monotone.

"Two thousand, May sixteenth, sixteen hundred hours. Kaiba, Seto admitted to Tokyo General Hospital at age ten with severe bruising and minor lacerations. Currently: Conscious, but delirious. Heart rate: Uneven. Physical state: Internal bleeding suspect, malnourished, anaemia worsening. Reason for injuries: Unknown. Patient claims to have gotten into a fight with some other boys.

"Two thousand, June first, oh eight hundred hours. Kaiba, Seto admitted to Tokyo General Hospital at age ten with broken ankle and other minor injuries. Currently: Conscious. Heart rate: Normal. Physical state: Underweight; pale. Reason for injuries: Unknown. Patient claims to have—"

"_Stop it_!" I yelled, clapping my hands over my ears and cringing. 'I can't take this anymore!' I cried inwardly, tears leaking out of my eyes. "How can you just read it in monotone? How can you even bear to _think_ about it! How could you, Jö?"

Jö winced and turned away from me, but Kaiba-_kun_'s gaze was level as he said, "You wanted to hear it, Yuugi. I haven't forgotten, and I _always_ keep my word…." He smirked and continued reading from where he had left off. "Patient claims to have tripped while running.

"Two thousand, September fourteenth, thirteen hundred hours. Kaiba, Seto admitted to Tokyo General Hospital at age ten with severe dizzy spells, cramping in abdomen and bowel area, nausea, and diarrhoea -3-. Currently: Conscious. Heart rate: Rapid and shallow. Physical state: Underweight, pale, sweaty, severely dehydrated, low blood iron content. Reason for ailments: Dehydration and malnutrition. Anaemia.

"Two thousand, October twenty-fourth, oh five hundred hours. Kaiba, Seto admitted to Tokyo General Hospital at age ten with pain of the sinuses and right ear. Currently: Sleeping. Heart rate: Normal. Physical state: Underweight, mildly anaemic, but healthy. Reason for ailment: Infection of the ear; clogged sinuses.

"Two thousand, October twenty-sixth, oh one hundred hours. Kaiba, Seto admitted to Tokyo General Hospital at age eleven with severe bruising, blood loss, and major lacerations. Anal channel is severely torn, requiring stitches, and rape kit identified semen as well. Currently: Unconscious, but was conscious during ambulance ride. Heart rate: Slow and shallow. Physical state: Underweight, mildly anaemic, but poor. Reason for ailments: Unknown. All signs point to rough, non-consensual sex, but patient is denying this."

Kaiba-_kun_ stopped and tilted his head to look at Jö, who was staring at him in horror that seemed so absolute it was a miracle he was still standing. Kaiba-_kun_ blinked slowly, blue eyes half shut as if bored. "What is it, _Inu_?" he asked. "Nerve failing you? Don't you want to hear the rest? There _is_ more, you know. His eyes were open again, narrowed and crackling in anger—he waved the folder in front of Jö's eyes, proof that there was more. Much, much more. Too much more…. "And that's not the worst," Kaiba-_kun_ was saying. It gets _far_ more frequent and _much_ more tragic. Why, I believe there's an occasion in here where they found _seven_ different samples of DNA from semen on me—none of them my own." He flicked through a document, and paused to read another paragraph. "Two thousand and one, March seventh, eighteen hundred hours. Kaiba, Seto admitted to Tokyo General Hospital at age eleven with internal bleeding and severe bruising and lacerations. Anal channel severely torn; rape kit identified three different sperm donors; lacerations appear to be from some sort of whip, as well as several from a knife. Wrists and ankles are rubbed raw, and rope fibres were found in the wounds. Currently: Conscious. Physical state: Poor. Reason for injuries: Unknown. Patient continually denies rape, and will not say anything else."

His voice rose as he went onto the next one, eyes narrowing further. "Two thousand and one, March tenth, oh six hundred hours—"

"_STOP_!"

Richard-_san_ stormed forward and tore the papers from Kaiba-_kun_'s hands, throwing it onto the bed and glaring at him. "Shame on you, Seto!" she yelled. "Why are you—"

"WHY? _WHY_!" Kaiba-_kun_ choked. "BECAUSE I WAS HIS DAMN _WHORE_, SANDI! DAMN IT, I'M _SICK_ OF HAVING YOU TELL ME IT'S NOT MY FAULT! YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT WAS GOING ON, DO YOU! ALL YOU DID WAS TREAT ME AFTERWARDS AND SUGAR-COAT IT ALL AND THEN PRETEND NOTHING WAS WRONG!"

"AND YOU DID ANYTHING DIFFERENT!" Richard-_san_ shrieked, face turning red. "I'M SICK OF YOU ALWAYS PLAYING THE VICTIM TO ME, SETO! IF YOU WANT TO TRY TO LIVE IT ON YOUR OWN AND HAVE SOME _OTHER_ DOCTOR TREAT YOU, SOMEONE WHO'LL SPILL ALL YOUR SECRETS TO THE WORLD AT THE SLIGHTEST MENTION OF MONEY, THEN _FINE_, DO IT! BECAUSE I—oh, my God. Seto, no, please no. Don't do this to me; don't cry. Oh, God, Seto, don't. I didn't mean it, I just…oh, Seto…."

And before my very eyes, _Isha_ Richard stepped forward, knelt on the floor beside where Kaiba-_kun_ had slid down the wall, and wrapped her arms around his shaking frame, holding him close as he cried—in front of me, in front of Jö, in front of everybody.

"_It hurts_," he mumbled in English against her lab coat, and she shushed him and rocked him and held onto him as he clung to her as if his World was falling apart, the floor gone from beneath his feet, and she was all that was keeping him there. And, I suppose that she was as she cried with him, right on the floor of the hospital room.

****

—Jö POV—

__

"Tch—so typical of a street kid. Thinking that money buys happiness.

"BUT PAMPERED, SPOILED YOUNG TEENAGE CEOS WEREN'T ABUSED AS A CHILD!

"BUT A COLD-HEARTED ARROGANT BASTARD LIKE ME COULD NEVER HAVE BEEN RAPED BY HIS PEDOPHILIAC ADOPTED-FATHER!"

Kaiba's words rang over and over in my head, mingling with the doctor's furious accusations of neglect and ignorance. 'It's not _my FAULT_!' I screamed inwardly, clutching at my head as harsh, broken sobs continued to permeate the painted wood of the bathroom door, even over the rushing of water. 'It's _not_!'

But some part of me knew, even though I did my best to try and deny it, some part of me was _well_ aware that it was, in fact, my fault.

All my fault.

And all of a sudden, I felt as if I was going to cry. Me. Jönöchi, Katsuya—Kaiba's worst enemy—that's who I was; and, for some reason, I was going to cry for him. For my own arch nemesis! I shook my head vigorously, and blinked several times in quick succession, refusing to do so.

'This doesn't change a thing,' I tried to tell myself. 'Just because I know that he shares a somewhat-similar past with me isn't going to make us kindred spirits all of a sudden!'

Rubbing my nose roughly all the same, just to be sure, I stopped, blinking, and my head shot up as I noticed something—there was not more crying to be heard. I blinked, cocking my head, as the water was shut off, and the handle on the door turned….

When Kaiba stepped out, it was all I could do not to stare openly—but after one quick glance, I already knew that there was nothing different. No hair out of place, no red spot high up on his cheekbones, no pink tinge to his eyes. Nothing—he was perfect. He was always perfect. That's why I hated him, after all—because no one should, or could, _ever_ be that perfect—and yet…he was.

"Sandi," he said to the doctor, "I need my shirt, please. If I'm going to go see my brother, I cannot go shirtless." Of course, his voice was perfect, too, as usual. Flat, emotionless, except for a tiny tinge of irritation—not even a tiny crack when he spoke of his brother. Cold; heartless. That's what he was. But….

__

"…no one could actually be that emotionless! It's all a farce!"

Hadn't that been what the doctor had said? That it was all an act? She had asked straight out how we couldn't have seen it, but neither me, nor Yuugi, could give her an answer. Because there wasn't one—we really _should_ have been able to see it. And the only thing was…I wasn't entirely sure that Yuugi _hadn't_. He had always been trying to get Kaiba to join our group, while the rest of us grumbled and groaned and tried to get him to stop, because Kaiba was heartless….

But now, now there was this stranger telling us that he _wasn't_! That he was really just one fucked up kid. And I couldn't accept that, because that would mean admitting that I had been wrong about him, and if it was one thing I prided myself on, it was being able to tell a person's character, and if this doctor was right, I had failed in that, as well.

Suddenly, Kaiba's voice once again broke in on my thoughts, and I looked up, shocked to find him dressed. "Briefcase?" he said.

I glanced at Yuugi quickly, dread beginning to creep over me. If Kaiba wanted his briefcase, he was sure to open it, just to check, and then…. Oh, God. We'd forgotten to close the secret compartment.

But Kaiba was leaving, not even glancing back, briefcase held by his side. I let out the breath I had been holding, and immediately regretted it as Kaiba froze, an odd expression on his face. Turning back, he laid the titanium case on the bedcovers and flipped it open, his face instantly contorting into an expression of utmost rage. "Sandi?" he choked out, voice tight.

"Yes?"

Kaiba growled, and said—through tightly gritted teeth—"Why is Mokuba's medical information scattered all over my business reports?"

The doctor's eyes were wide as she replied, hesitantly, "I…don't know. Yuugi and Jö brought it in; they said you'd left it at the school—"

"I did."

I coughed, and shuffled my feet nervously. Should I come forward and admit to it? But Kaiba was sure to attack me if I did that…. But Yuugi would have done it, so I did, too. "Uh…_anö_…Kaiba?"

"What, _Inu_?"

I took another deep breath, and blurted it out. "I did it."

"What do you mean?"

Stunned, I stared a while before continuing. Kaiba actually sounded…like he was going to cry. 'Kaiba can't cry….'

"I…uh…found the secret compartment…" I mumbled finally, and Kaiba's eyes flashed angrily.

"Why?" he asked.

"Because…" I was fishing, and I knew it. Stalling for some semblance of an acceptable excuse, but I didn't even know if there _was_ one for this situation. "Because…—"

Kaiba's face twisted again. "Because you really are such a dog that you can't keep your nose out of other people's private business, is that it! Do you even know what you've _done_, Mutt! Do you know that I could have you arrested, sent to trial, and put in jail for your—obviously thoughtless—actions!"

Angry, I yelled back, rational thought having fled me. "Oh yeah, Kaiba? Well, then, let's see you do it! ARREST ME!"

Silence.

"But you won't, will you?" I said, slyly. "You're too afraid of what the media will do if you _did_ arrest me—you'd have to provide evidence! You'd have to _show them_ the information that I had seen! And you won't do that, will you Kaiba? You don't want Mokuba's illness to become public, do you? Does it frighten you to have no power, Kaiba?" My voice was growing stronger, and I was losing myself in my fury—I already knew that what I said next would be something so horrible I would never have thought of it before…. "Well, I don't know if what your stepfather did wasn't totally deserved by how you're acting—!"

I suddenly took a step back, staggered, as the doctor slapped me hard across the cheek.

"How dare you?" she said quietly, glaring furiously at me. "How can you even _think_ of saying that after you know what he's gone through! You have no right to—"

"I HAVE EVERY RIGHT!" I suddenly yelled back, anger once again evoked. "EVERY RIGHT TO CHALLENGE HIM—EVERY RIGHT TO QUESTION THE WAY HE ACTS TOWARDS ME!"

"AND WHEN HAVE YOU _EVER_ TREATED HIM ANY DIFFERENT! DID YOU WELCOME HIM INTO YOUR POSSE WITH OPEN ARMS? DID YOU EVEN _CONSIDER_ ASKING ABOUT HIS LIFE AND HIS PAST? NO—BECAUSE HE'S _RICH_!"

"YEAH? WELL, HAS HE EVER NEEDED TO STRUGGLE TO FIND FOOD? HAS _ANY_ OF HIS LIFE BEEN WANTING!"

"YOU THINK ALL HAPPINESS HAS TO DO WITH ARE MATERIAL GOODS, DON'T YOU? YOU THINK THAT JUST BECAUSE YOU—"

"WILL YOU _BOTH_ JUST _SHUT UP_!"

Silence, again.

"_Finally_," Kaiba growled, opening the door and stepping half-out.

"Wait!" The doctor. What did she want now?

Kaiba turned slowly, and said, pausing after each word as if mulling over them in his own head, "Yes, Sandi? Is there something else I should know? Some _other_ shameless breach of my privacy? Another cry of outrage about how I chose to run my life? Still more unfeeling questions about my past?"

My head shot up again, and I glared at him. "Bastard…" I muttered to myself.

"Actually," came Yuugi's small, hesitant voice, "you _did_ promise to tell Jö and I about your…" a nervous cough, "past."

Ever so slowly, Kaiba turned, until I thought Yuugi was going to faint from anxiety. "What?" he hissed.

"Yeah, Kaiba, you did," I said. Normally I would've just let him leave, but I had to save Yuugi from his Glare of Death, or whatever it was. "You promised, and I've never known the great CEO of Kaiba Corporation to go back on his word."

This time, the silence stretched on so long that one actually began to wonder if Kaiba had somehow gone mute….

"I don't have to listen to this shit," Kaiba finally snarled. "I'm leaving."

"You'll remember you did this, then, when I tell all your business partners that you can't be counted on to stick to what you say?" I called, taunting him.

Kaiba growled, whipping around again. "Don't you know enough!" he asked savagely, teeth clenched.

"Jö," it was that doctor again. "Don't. I highly doubt you even _want_ to know."

I paused, actually considering backing down, but then my eyes met Kaiba's again, and the way those blue orbs just _dared_ me to continue spurned me on.

"I want to know."

He seemed to battle with himself for a while…and then he smirked at me, as though it was _him_ who had won, _him_ who was going to get the glory, _him_ who had the upper hand.

"Alright, fine. You want it, you got it. Sandi, if you would please…?" He held out his hand. "My medical records, please," he said, addressing the doctor. "I know you have them—you carry them with you everywhere, Sandi. After all, we don't want to miss anything, and there's _so_ much there…."

Reluctantly, the doctor drew a thick manila folder from the inside of her lab coat, and handed it to Kaiba, shooting me a glare as she did so.

"Thank you, Sandi," Kaiba said, opening the folder. "Shall we begin?"

I blinked, and nodded…but I couldn't look him in the eyes.

Kaiba cleared his throat a couple times, the tension mounting, before he began, voice a complete monotone.

"Nineteen ninety-nine, November twelfth, twenty-three hundred hours. Kaiba, Seto admitted to Tokyo General Hospital at age ten with severe blood loss and lacerations. Currently: Unconscious. Heart rate: Shallow; slow; but regular. Physical state: Poor." A pause, and I could feel his eyes burning into the back of my head as I stared at the floor, face reddening steadily. "Reason for injuries," he continued after a while, "Unknown; patient says he fell while riding his bike, and landed on some broken glass; foul play suspect—often mumbles in sleep about brother, and stepfather.

Another pause, but shorter this time, as he turned a page.

"Nineteen ninety-nine, November fifteenth, fourteen hundred hours. Kaiba, Seto admitted to Tokyo General Hospital at age ten with broken arm and some minor injuries. Bruising is severe, but no internal bleeding—several small cuts and scrapes apparent, especially on back and hands. Currently: Conscious. Heart rate: Normal. Physical state: Slightly underweight, but healthy. Reason for injuries: Unknown. Patient says he fell down the stairs while carrying a glass.

__

Flip.

"Nineteen ninety-nine, December thirtieth, oh two hundred hours. Kaiba, Seto admitted to Tokyo General Hospital at age ten with a mild concussion. Currently: Sleeping. Heart rate: Regular. Physical state: Underweight and pale, but stable. Reason for injuries: Fainted while staying up late and fell out of his chair.

__

Flip.

"Two thousand, January fourth, oh nine hundred hours. Kaiba, Seto admitted to Tokyo General Hospital at age ten with dizziness and severe cramping in abdomen. Currently: Conscious. Heart rate: Low. Physical state: Malnourished -1- and slightly anaemic -2-. Reason for ailments: See above.

__

Flip.

"Two thousand, January seventh, sixteen hundred hours. Kaiba, Seto admitted to Tokyo General Hospital at age ten with fainting spells and minor bruising and lacerations. Currently: Conscious. Heart rate: Low. Physical state: Underweight, malnourished, and slightly anaemic. Reason for ailments: See above. Reason for injuries: Unknown." Again, he paused, as if allowing the words to sink into our brains, then went back to reading, his voice a steady monotone.

__

Flip.

"Two thousand, May sixteenth, sixteen hundred hours. Kaiba, Seto admitted to Tokyo General Hospital at age ten with severe bruising and minor lacerations. Currently: Conscious, but delirious. Heart rate: Uneven. Physical state: Internal bleeding suspect, malnourished, anaemia worsening. Reason for injuries: Unknown. Patient claims to have gotten into a fight with some other boys.

He was gaining speed now, though he still somehow managed to keep that same steady monotone as he read through it all, through his life, and my head spun….

"Two thousand, June first, oh eight hundred hours. Kaiba, Seto admitted to Tokyo General Hospital at age ten with broken ankle and other minor injuries. Currently: Conscious. Heart rate: Normal. Physical state: Underweight; pale. Reason for injuries: Unknown. Patient claims to have—"

"_Stop it_!" Yuugi.

My head snapped up, and I recoiled slightly to see him glaring at me through tear-blurred eyes as he yelled.

"How can you just read it in monotone?" he shrieked at Kaiba. "How can you even bear to _think_ about it! How could you, Jö?"

I winced, but Kaiba just smirked. "You wanted to hear it, Yuugi," he said. "I haven't forgotten, and I _always_ keep my word….

"Patient claims to have tripped while running.

__

Flip, as the page turning resumed.

"Two thousand, September fourteenth, thirteen hundred hours. Kaiba, Seto admitted to Tokyo General Hospital at age ten with severe dizzy spells, cramping in abdomen and bowel area, nausea, and diarrhoea -3-. Currently: Conscious. Heart rate: Rapid and shallow. Physical state: Underweight, pale, sweaty, severely dehydrated, low blood iron content. Reason for ailments: Dehydration and malnutrition. Anaemia.

__

Flip.

"Two thousand, October twenty-fourth, oh five hundred hours. Kaiba, Seto admitted to Tokyo General Hospital at age ten with pain of the sinuses and right ear. Currently: Sleeping. Heart rate: Normal. Physical state: Underweight, mildly anaemic, but healthy. Reason for ailment: Infection of the ear; clogged sinuses.

__

Flip.

"Two thousand, October twenty-sixth, oh one hundred hours. Kaiba, Seto admitted to Tokyo General Hospital at age eleven with severe bruising, blood loss, and major lacerations. Anal channel is severely torn, requiring stitches, and rape kit identified semen as well. Currently: Unconscious, but was conscious during ambulance ride. Heart rate: Slow and shallow. Physical state: Underweight, mildly anaemic, but poor. Reason for ailments: Unknown. All signs point to rough, non-consensual sex, but patient is denying this."

For the first time since he'd started, Kaiba stopped on his own and raised his head to look at me. I stared back, horrified, my brain no even finding it possible to comprehend the facts that Kaiba was feeding it in that steady, unfeeling monotone he seemed so practiced at.

Kaiba blinked.

"What is it, _Inu_?" he teased. "Nerve failing you? Don't you want to hear the rest? There _is_ more, you know. His eyes were open again, instead of being lazily half-closed—he waved the folder in front of my eyes, showing me quite clearly exactly how _much _more there was….

Much, much more. Too much more….

My head was whirling already—there was no way I would be able to handle that much more…how on Earth did Kaiba continue to read in that monotone…? God, it was hurting _me_ to hear him speak of it so emotionlessly!

"And that's not the worst," Kaiba said. I snapped back to reality, recoiling again.

"It gets _far_ more frequent and _much_ more tragic. Why, I believe there's an occasion in here where they found _seven_ different samples of DNA from semen on me—none of them my own." I flinched, as there was another _flick_ of a page being turned.

"Two thousand and one, March seventh, eighteen hundred hours. Kaiba, Seto admitted to Tokyo General Hospital at age eleven with internal bleeding and severe bruising and lacerations. Anal channel severely torn; rape kit identified three different sperm donors; lacerations appear to be from some sort of whip, as well as several from a knife. Wrists and ankles are rubbed raw, and rope fibres were found in the wounds. Currently: Conscious. Physical state: Poor. Reason for injuries: Unknown. Patient continually denies rape, and will not say anything else."

__

Flip. And now, finally, his voice began to rise, but much, much too much…. God, he was angry….

"Two thousand and one, March tenth, oh six hundred hours—"

"_STOP_!"

The doctor stormed forward, throwing the folder to the floor and glaring furiously at Kaiba. "Shame on you, Seto!" she shouted. "Why are you—"

"WHY?" Kaiba actually seemed surprised. "_WHY_!" he choked again. "BECAUSE I WAS HIS DAMN _WHORE_, SANDI! DAMN IT, I'M _SICK_ OF HAVING YOU TELL ME IT'S NOT MY FAULT! YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT WAS GOING ON, DO YOU! ALL YOU DID WAS TREAT ME AFTERWARDS AND SUGAR-COAT IT ALL AND THEN PRETEND NOTHING WAS WRONG!"

'What…? He actually thinks that this…that…is…was…_his_ fault! But that's so…_wrong_!'

"AND YOU DID ANYTHING DIFFERENT!" For once, the doctor was losing control and yelling at Kaiba, face red as a beet.

"I'M SICK OF YOU ALWAYS PLAYING THE VICTIM TO ME, SETO!" she shrieked. "IF YOU WANT TO TRY AND LIVE IT ON YOUR OWN AND HAVE SOME _OTHER_ DOCTOR TREAT YOU, SOMEONE WHO'LL SPILL ALL YOUR SECRETS TO THE WORLD AT THE SLIGHTEST MENTION OF MONEY, THEN _FINE_, DO IT! BECAUSE I—" she froze, and I stared in horror and shock as Kaiba let out a high, wailing keen and went lax against the wall, sinking to the floor slowly, face twisted in _pain_ and _agony_…. 

"Oh, my God." The doctor put a hand to her mouth, taking a step back before hurrying forward and kneeling next to him. "Seto, no, please no. Don't do this to me; don't cry. Oh, God, Seto, don't. I didn't mean it, I just…oh, Seto…."

She sniffed and wiped her face on her lab coat sleeve, then reached out and put her arms around Kaiba, pulling him close as he began to cry helplessly, reaching out and clinging to the fabric of the coat as if it was his lifeline.

"_It hurts_," he cried, voice muffled in her shoulder. He looked like a little kid….

"Shh," the doctor whispered, brushing his hair back, tears leaking out of her eyes as she tried to make him calm down. "Shh, Seto, it's alright…it's okay…just calm down…."

I shook my head, disbelieving, and felt a tear of my own fall to the floor as Kaiba sobbed again.

'No….'

Another tear, and something inside me snapped as I lurched forward and lunged for the door, bolting into the hallway and just running, running, running….

****

-o-

Two hours later I snuck into the room again, head down; the perfect picture of a kicked dog, I'm sure. A quick glance around showed me that Yuugi was gone—probably home—and that Kaiba was sleeping on the bed again, the doctor sitting in one of the uncomfortable plastic chairs beside it, his hand clasped in hers, her head bowed. It looked like she was…praying.

Quietly, I walked up beside her, looking down at my rival as, I imagined, he was supposed to be looked at. Chocolate hair mussed, eyelids puffy, cheeks and nose red from crying, sticky, salty residue still drying on his face. He looked…like a fallen angel. One whose innocence had been stripped away—literally and figuratively—but he still clung to some twisted semblance of purity.

"Jö?"

I started, and whirled around to face the doctor, heart beating wildly in my chest.

"Oh, _gomen_ (2), Jönöchi-_kun_. I didn't mean to startle you."

"_Daijöbö _(3)."

She smiled, and then frowned slightly as if remembering something. "Jö, why are you here?" she asked. I flushed.

"I'll go," I mumbled, and turned to leave, but was stopped by a light touch on my arm.

"No, Jö, you don't have to leave—I just wondered why you were here. Yuugi's gone home, in case you were wondering…—"

"I wasn't," I interrupted softly.

"Oh." A long pause, but comfortable. I suddenly realised why Kaiba was probably so close to this doctor—it felt…like you could trust her. It was a good feeling, I realised. Like a warm glow in the bottom of your stomach.

"I just came back because…" I paused myself, wondering why I _had_ come back. "I don't know why," I said slowly, the words strange and funny in my mouth, almost like I was trying to speak another language.

But the doctor nodded understandingly, turning her eyes back to Kaiba. "I understand. Seto does that sometimes, too." She reached out to brush a lock of said Kaiba's hair from his forehead, smiling softly when he leaned into her touch, making a tiny noise in the back of his throat. Like a child.

I frowned. "Why does he act like that when he's asleep? Why is he…" I shook my head. "He looks like a ten-year-old kid."

The doctor looked at me, an expression of slight surprise on her face. "Why?" she asked. "Because, that's what he's really like. Seto never got a chance to grow up…it was forced upon him when his parents died and his aunt and uncle sent him and Mokuba to the orphanage." She looked away and leaned back in her chair. "I shouldn't be telling you this," she said.

I smiled, but there was nothing like humour in it. "What harm could it do that hasn't already been done?"

I was met by silence, and another wry smile made my lips quirk. Walking over to the wall, I dragged a second chair over to the bed, and plopped myself down in it, the plastic creaking in protest. Not looking at me, the doctor continued to rub Kaiba's hand with her thumb, just staring at his sleeping face—she looked troubled.

"Why do you want to know?" she asked.

I shrugged.

She sighed.

The clock ticked.

Somewhere, a toilet flushed.

People mumbled in the room next, the words coming out as a steady hum through the wall.

Kaiba murmured in his sleep again and turned over.

The air conditioning hummed, the vents rattling loudly in the silence.

I shifted in my chair uncomfortably. I didn't belong here; I knew that. Not here—at my rival's bedside. Not here, where said rival who had broken down in front of my very eyes and sobbed here on the floor of the hospital room with a doctor I didn't know. Not here, in this freaking uncomfortable plastic chair in a too-quiet room where you could hear everything going on around you. Not here—just…not…_here_. I stood to leave, the metal legs of my chair grating against the linoleum with a terrible screech, and winced.

"You're leaving." It wasn't a question.

I stopped, one hand still on the back of that dreaded chair, surprised at the sudden reluctance I felt in the pit of my stomach. I stared for a long time at the door, then shook my head and turned back around and took my seat in the chair. The doctor made a slight noise, but I couldn't tell whether it was one of approval or disapproval—maybe it was just non-committal.

A few more minutes passed, Kaiba's deep, even breathing lending more fluidity to the passing of time than the harsh tick of a clock ever could. I said nothing, and the doctor said nothing back, simply choosing to sit there and watch over Kaiba. I wondered if he knew she did this. Probably not—I doubted that he would allow it if he did. Although…I had to wonder if that would really stop this doctor; she didn't seem to be influenced by his antisocial attitude at all.

Suddenly the phone rang—loud and shrill in the silence that had formed—I jumped, and the doctor leaped forward, grabbing the phone from its cradle and jamming it up against one ear, sparing a glance at Kaiba, who was now awake and staring at her questioningly.

"Hello?" she said, placing one finger against her lips and then pointing it and Kaiba, who glared, his gaze shifting over to me. I flushed, and something flickered through those ultramarine depths—uncertainty, wariness, anger, and something else impossible to identify on Kaiba.

The doctor was speaking to the person on the phone again, and suddenly Kaiba's head snapped around to once again face her as she said, "Ai? Okay, we'll be right over. Yes…yes, he's fine. …No. …Sorry, I forgot to call you. It was slightly—yes, that's it. _Hai_, _ja ne_." She hung up the phone, and turned to Kaiba. "Up," she said. "I'm driving you to Kyoto."

Kaiba started to get up, then his eyes strayed to me again, and he stopped. "Is _he_ coming?" he snapped, voice gritty. I winced and looked away.

"I won't come if you don't want me to," I whispered, and was met with silence from both other parties.

"…Fine. Come if you want." Kaiba pushed himself out of the bed and walked to the washroom, smoothing his crumpled uniform jacket with his hands, wet his hair, and brushed it into its usual primness with slender fingers. Squinting at his reflection, he splashed cold water on his face, dried it, and pulled a vial of eye drops out from his pants pocket. Giving each eye two drops, he blinked, slipping the vial back into his pocket. "Ready," he said shortly, and walked briskly from the room, seizing his briefcase from the floor and he went, and throwing a glance over his shoulder at me as he cleared the doorframe. "Coming, _Inu_?" he asked.

I jumped, startled back to reality, and hurried after him, just missing being clipped on the hip by the door. "Jeez, Kaiba, no courtesy," I grumbled, hurrying after him.

"It's the girl you hold to door open for, not the mutt, you idiot." He snapped, then added—after a short pause, and under his breath—"And chivalry's long-dead anyways -4-."

****

—Seto POV—

The drive to Kyoto was long, and tense. I was in the front passenger seat, Sandi was behind the wheel of the Ford Avalanche, and Jönöchi was in the backseat behind me, leaning forward and staring fixedly at the road the entire time.

Finally, we made it to the hospital, and Sandi pulled into the parking lot; I was already half-out of the truck—already walking towards the entrance.

Going right past the line-up in the waiting room, ID in hand, I flashed it at the receptionist, and said, in a perfect monotone, "I'm here to see Patient Number One-Five-One. If you could please point me in the right direction…?" I raised an eyebrow, and she pointed towards the paediatrics ward.

"Room One Seventy-Seven. Do you need anything else, Sir?"

"No, thank you. I'm fine."

Turning, I came face-to-face with an angry man; my lip curled, and I tried to side step him, but he raised a finger threateningly, and glared at me. "You need to have more respect for you elders, young man! You can't just push past all these people who have been waiting in line for forty-five minutes!"

"Listen," I began, and I could feel my tone rising already, "I—"

"Hey Kaiba! Where are you!"

The mutt. Of course. He _would_ be the one to blow my cover, I thought wearily as he jogged up to me, staring at the flurry of slips of paper and pens that blocked his way.

"Mr. Kaiba, Mr. Kaiba! Can I get an autograph—just one, please? For my friend, you know."

"Mr. Kaiba, an autograph, please—"

"_Mr. Kaiba_!"

"NOT NOW!" Sandi yelled, pushing through the crowd to my side. "He's busy—now scram, before I have you all kicked out from the hospital; and, believe me, I can do it," she growled, glaring at the doubtful few who still stood.

I glared at them. "Move."

They scattered, and I smirked. "Satisfying," I murmured, already moving down the hall towards Mokuba.

Suddenly, a door up ahead swung open, and a Japanese nurse stepped out—"Ai!" I shouted, and she turned, beginning to hurry toward us. "How is he?" I asked when we were close enough.

"He's fine—he wants you, though," she said, heels clicking on the tiles as she jogged to keep up with my longer strides; handing me a clipboard and a pen, she added, "and we need your signature to legalize performing these tests."

I quickened my pace, scanning through the documents at record speed, and scrawled my signature along the line at the bottom, then handed the clipboard back as I pushed open the door to my brother's room.

"Mokuba," I said, and hurried to the bed, "Oh my God, I'm sorry—how are you, _Otöto_ (4)?"

"Hmm…_'Nii-san_ (5)?" he asked sleepily, rubbing his eyes with tiny fists as he rolled over in the bed to face me. I nearly fainted in relief.

"Oh, _Kami-sama_, Mokuba—I'm so, so, so sorry I didn't get here sooner." I was moving over to him, gathering him into my arms, oblivious to Jö standing shocked in the doorway as I hugged my little brother, breathing in his scent as I held him close. God, I had been so worried about him….

"So, Kaiba, you really do have a heart."

The was a smirk in that voice, and I glared at the person it had come from. "Shut up, _Inu_," I snarled. "I haven't forgotten the circumstances under which you are here, just in case you think I have."

He turned away, something like hurt flickering through his eyes—and shame—and muttered an embarrassed "sorry".

"Jö?" Mokuba said, confused. "What are you doing here?"

'Oh, crap,' I thought, my heart speeding up in apprehension. 'If the _inu_ says anything….' "_That is between me, Sandi, and the Mutt, Mokuba_," I said in rapid English, not trusting Jönöchi to keep quiet for one second.

Mokuba looked at me suspiciously. "_Seto…what happened_?"

"_I already told you, you don't need to know_!"

"…" Mokuba turned away—hurt, I could tell. I hadn't meant to hurt him…. "Fine."

"Otöto_, please don't do this to me_."

He spun, eyes blazing like mine, "You never tell me anything! You're always hiding things from me! You hypocri—"

It hurt; it hurt too much—it all hurt too much. I recoiled as if burned, shocked at what my cherished, innocent little brother had become. 'Dirty, you're dirty, you filthy whore!' Voices…all the voices…. No! They couldn't come now—not with Mokuba here, right in my _lap_!

'You're corrupting him! Making him dirty!'

A high keen forced its way from my constricting throat as I fought to breath, shoving Mokuba off me as I scrambled to get away from him—'Just get _away_, Kaiba! Look at him, you've made him like that, it's all your fault. You're so dirty….'

I fell from the bed, landing on cold tile, and felt my breath escape me as I hit it. Vision blurring at the edges, panic creeping in on me, I pushed myself further from the bed, continuing to try and escape from the monster that I had created. 'Your fault, your fault, your fault! If you leave, he'll be better—your fault.'

I was backed up against a pair of legs, still trying to go further, but they wouldn't budge, and now people were yelling at me, Mokuba's face a mask of fear and horror, terrified indigo eyes staring at me from _his_ face….

Oh, God.

I was going to throw up.

I retched, but there was nothing there, nothing to get rid of, and my body curled away from the legs at my back as I hunched over, bangs clinging to my sweaty brow—face hot. Too hot….

And then there were rough fingers holding my bangs back; the same textured digits intertwined with my own as I keened animalisticly again, the blackness at the edges of my vision growing.

Just before I blacked out, I was finally able to make out a single voice among all the others—calling to me in English in a rough, uncultured Bostonian accent, "It's okay, Kaiba—s'all all gonna be okay…."

****

To be continued….

Author's Notes, Translations, Etc.:

(1) _Anö_—Japanese for _umm_

(2) _Gomen_—Japanese for _(I'm) sorry_. _Gomen nasai_ would mean _(I'm) very sorry_

(3) _Dajöbö_—Japanese for _(It's) alright_

(4) _Otöto_—Japanese for _little brother_

(5) _'Nii-san_—Japanese for _big brother_

-1- Malnutrition: inadequate nutrition: a lack of healthy foods in the diet or an excessive intake of unhealthy foods, leading to physical harm.

__

Encarta ® World English Dictionary © & (P) 1998-2004 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

-2- Anaemia: blood deficiency: a blood condition in which there are too few red blood cells or the red blood cells are deficient in haemoglobin, resulting in poor health. British spelling.

__

Encarta ® World English Dictionary © & (P) 1998-2004 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

-3- Diarrhoea: Diarrhea—British spelling

-4- Damn straight it is, Seto. Which _really_ sucks, by the way. _Really_. You know?

-5- Anyone know why he named those three first…?

__

Okay, so, the only two things I think I have to address in this chapter are as follows:

The Files, and, Jö's Accent.

So, without further ado, The Files:

1. Any feedback whatsoever on how medical files are actually_ organized is _so VERY_ welcome. I just kinda took a guess on what I thought would be important, and put in in some semblance of an order. You've gotta love me, huh?_

2. The times in these, as you might have noticed, are all in "hundred hours"—this is "military time", but I believe hospitals use it, too. Maybe. Whatever, they do here. Anyways, it's always the hour right on the dot—that's just because they rounded. Not because Seto always showed up at eight-o-clock sharp every second day to get stitches. Nope, sorry, that's not how it works.

Next, Jö's Accent:

1. Yes, I do believe I have given him an accent when he speaks English—and, I do believe, Jö understands such things. Hmm….

__

Also, it has come to my attention that I'm running a bit behind in my scheduling in the story. While the planned plotline was thus so far:

****

Old Plotline:  
Chapter Seven: Seto and Jö become friends**  
Chapter Ten:** Jö moves in with Seto**  
Chapter Twelve:** Jö realises that his feelings for Seto are not just friendly**  
Chapter Fifteen:** Jö makes his move**  
Chapter Seventeen:** Seto returns Jö's feelings**  
Chapter Twenty:** Confession to Yuugi and the gang; first LEMON  
**Chapter Twenty-Five:** End fic

(For those of you who are wondering, no, this should not come as a surprise for you that I am revealing this—after all, it was_ on my bio for several months, and can now be viewed at my LiveJournal (you'll find the link in the afore-mentioned bio)—so, yeah. So not a surprise.)_

The new plotline, however, is as follows:

****

New Plotline:  
Chapter Eight: Seto and Jö become friends**  
Chapter Twelve:** Jö moves in with Seto**  
Chapter Fifteen:** Jö realises that his feelings for Seto are not just friendly**  
Chapter Seventeen:** Jö makes his move**  
Chapter Twenty:** Seto returns Jö's feelings**  
Chapter Twenty-Five:** Confession to Yuugi and the gang; first LEMON

So yeah. Everything just moved forward a bit. And you get but one lemon in this ficclet. How sad. However, Book Two will have quite a few more. (Once again, you can view the summaries and such on my LiveJournal. If not, you'll just have to wait. And, no, the lemons will not be in the "clean" version of the story which is on ff.n. Sorry.)

So, I think that's all—oh, and review responses can be viewed on my LiveJournal, once again, as it's now "banned" to respond to reviews in fics. I apologize for any inconvenience whatsoever.


	8. Chapter 8: Take Me Home

**Warnings:  
**Future YAOI (JöXSeto), ANGST, MENTIONS OF UNDERAGE RAPE AND CHILD ABUSE

**Disclaimer:  
**Don't own, don't own, don't own. Chapter title gacked from Christine Evans' CD, "Take Me Home".

**Summary:  
**When Mokuba Kaiba faints in the middle of school, and a devastating revelation concerning his health comes into view, will Seto be able to deal with the added complication to his already problematical life? And what will happen when Yuugi and the gang find out?

**Author's Notes (A/N's):  
1)** When people are yelling, the words will appear in CAPITAL LETTERS, when people are being sarcastic, it'll show up inside single quotes (apostrophise)  
**2)** "…" People speaking, or a quote  
**3)** '…' Thoughts and/or a voice in someone's head, or written words  
**4) **Memories are in _italics_, as are any 'stressed' words and/or syllables, and Japanese/French/whatever words (not English). If something is 'stressed' in a flashback or something else that's in _italics_, then it will be in plain text, because _italics_ on top of the _italics_ cancels the _italics_ out; now, are we clear?  
**5)** At the end, anything that has a (number) beside it will be translated, anything with a -number- beside it will be explained.  
**6)** A bolded _-o-_ indicates a time change. If needed, the amount of time that passed will be added between two _-o-_.  
**7)** Japanese names and ages

**Shattered Masks, Healed Hearts  
Book One: Opposites Attract  
Chapter Eight: Take Me Home  
By: Nachzes Black-Rider**

—**Mokuba POV—**

I cried myself to sleep in Ai's arms; my tears slowly easing off until there were no more left to shed. Then, finally, I began to drift off, eyes sore and puffy from weeping; but a great weight gone from my shoulders all the same. I felt the mattress shift under me as Ai eased me off her lap and under the covers, carefully tucking them in around me, and she kissed my gently on the forehead before standing up. Vaguely, I think I remember her talking on the phone with someone, and her cool fingers running through my bangs, but I've forgotten—or was asleep during—the conversation.

So I lay there, feeling woozy and exhausted, for a good hour or so, I could guess—drifting in and out of sleep, spending half of the time in a daze. I was still only half-conscious when the door opened; and it took my brother's voice to wake me up completely. Groggy, I turned to him, trying to focus on what he was saying.

"…are you, _Otöto-chan_?"

"Hmm, '_Nii-san_," I murmured, scrubbing at my eyes with my hands, rolling over to face him.

His eyes flickered briefly, and he scooped me up, sitting down on the bed and hugging me tightly, saying, "Oh, _Kami-sama_, Mokuba—I'm so, so sorry I didn't get here sooner…."

But my attention was suddenly caught by the figure standing in the doorway, looking slightly shocked. 'Jö…?' I thought, confused.

He shifted uncomfortably and then said, plastering a slight smirk on his face, "So, Kaiba, I guess you really do have a heart."

I felt Seto's frame stiffen, and he raised his head to snarl at Jönöchi. "Shut up, _Inu_. I haven't forgotten the circumstances under which you are here, just in case you think I have."

Jö turned away, appearing embarrassed, and muttered a hasty "sorry".

Confused, I looked from him to my brother. "Jö, what are you doing here?" I asked him.

"_That is between me, Sandi, and the Mutt, Mokuba_," Seto cut in in rapid-fire English, and I frowned, now getting suspicious.

"_Seto…_" I replied, also speaking in English, "_what happened_?"

"_I already told you, you don't need to know_!" he snapped, anger flashing across his features. I winced, and turned away, hurt.

"Fine," I muttered, trying to sound sullen and not wounded—reverting to speaking in Japanese again.

Seto laid a hand on my shoulder. "Otöto_, please don't do this to me_," he said.

Furious, I turned on him. "You never tell me anything!" I yelled, glaring at him, shoving aside the pang I felt at the answering expression I got from him. "You're always hiding things from me! You hypocrite—" But the rest of my sentence was cut off as I tumbled backwards on the bed, Seto having shoved me forcefully from his lap. Scrabbling to my knees, I stared as my brother landed on the floor, a high-pitched cry—sounding choked and restrained—burst from his throat. Horrified, I watched as he shoved himself up onto his hands, attempting to scramble away like that. Finally, he collided with Jö's legs, but he kept going, as if trying to meld himself into the wall, his hands grasping behind him for something, anything….

I realized that Ai was shrieking for someone to help, with Sandi attempting to get her to calm down—seeming torn between stopping Ai and rushing to Seto's aid.

And Seto was staring at me, blue eyes huge and _terrified_ in his face, still trying to get _away_, and I couldn't stop the whimper of terror that wrenched itself from me as he suddenly doubled over, retching. I was sobbing, crying, but for _what_, I didn't know—because that _thing_ couldn't be my brother. Seto was strong, and hard, and cold as diamond; and the pitiful doppelganger that Jö was now comforting _couldn't be him_!

"_It's okay, Kaiba—s'all gonna be okay_," he said, and I realized that he was speaking in English. English with a horrible Bostonian accent, yes, but _English_. "_C'mon, Seto—breathe with me here_," he continued, and I remembered to do so myself, pulling in a huge, burning lungful of air, my head spinning for a while before settling down.

'Oh, God…' I thought, staring at my brother's limp form. 'What…?'

I could feel the onset of a fainting spell—dizziness—my head was spinning again—I whimpered, clapping my hands to my ears and shaking my head frantically, trying to dispel the image; and suddenly Sandi was forcing my arms back down to my sides, ordering me to "Breathe, Mokuba!", and I gasped again, feeling the darkness flee as air flooded my lungs again.

"Mokuba, can you hear me? Mokuba! Can you hear me!" Sandi was yelling, and I stared at her, struck dumb, until she grabbed my head and shoved it between my knees, making me yelp and try in vain to shake her off. "Mokuba!" she yelled again. "_Can you hear me_!"

"Yes!" I cried, and she immediately allowed me to raise me head. I attempted to glance around her, to try to see what was happening, but she wouldn't move enough to let me.

"Mokuba, he's fine," she said. "He just needs to rest." But there was something in her big blue eyes that worried me—doubt.

I bit my lip resolutely, and averted my eyes from hers, unsure.

"Mokuba…" she began. "Mokuba, look at me." She grasped my chin between her fingers, fixing her eyes on mine, forcing me to do so.

"What's wrong with Seto?" I demanded, glaring at her.

Her eyes flicked back to where Jö was holding Seto's limp body, the re-focused on me. "He had a panic attack," she said simply. "You brother hasn't been taking proper care of himself, as usual, and today has been very stressful for him."

I looked down guiltily. "Because of me?"

Sandi glared at me sternly. "_Partially_ because of the _cancer_, Mokuba, but it's complicated, and I can't tell you about it now. Maybe when he's ready, Seto will tell you about it—but I doubt he will."

I looked back at her, at her blue eyes—tinged with sorrow and anger and love—and nodded a little. At least, if nothing else, I could always count on Sandi to be honest.

—**Jö POV—**

"So, Kaiba, you really do have a heart." Almost automatically, the words slipped out, and I winced inwardly as I pasted a smirk onto my face. 'Stupid,' I thought as I watched Kaiba's back stiffen. 'How could you be so stupid?'

I flinched, cringing, at Kaiba's next words. "Shut up, _Inu_. I haven't forgotten the circumstances under which you are here, in case you think I have.

"Sorry," I muttered, ashamed, and turned away.

"Jö…what are you doing here?" Mokuba asked.

"_That is between me, Sandi, and the Mutt, Mokuba_," Kaiba replied for me in rapid English, and a frown creased Mokuba's face.

"_Seto…what happened_?" he said slowly.

"_I already told you! You don't need to know!_" Kaiba insisted; a little too forcefully, because Mokuba's face fell, sadness sparkling in his indigo eyes, before that turned to anger, and he turned away, glaring at nothing.

"…Fine," he said.

Kaiba looked pained for a brief moment, and tried to get Mokuba to face him again, voice quiet. "Otöto…_please don't do this to me_…."

"You never tell me anything!" Mokuba shouted, whirling and spearing Kaiba with a glare the likes of which I had only ever seen on the face of the elder before. "You're always hiding things from me! You hypocrite!" A high-pitched wail interrupted him, and I stared, disbelieving, as Kaiba shoved his little brother off his lap and overbalanced, landing on the floor with a muffled _twump_. The Asian doctor gasped, screamed, and shoved me aside, yelling for somebody to come help.

Suddenly, I felt something collide with my legs, and looked down, startled, to see Kaiba attempting to crab-walk through my calves. He made that high-pitched _sound_ again, and keeled over, retching, continuing to keen pitifully. Instinctively, I bent over and gripped his scrabbling hand in mine, holding his bangs off his forehead as he continued to dry-heave. "_It's okay, Kaiba. 'S'all gonna be okay_," I told him, continuing to stroke his hair soothingly. "_Relax._" Kaiba's body suddenly went limp in my arms, and I felt a flash of panic. "_C'mon, Seto_," I pleaded with his still form, feeling his chest desperately for any sign of breathing, "_breathe with me here_." The ribcage beneath my hand suddenly shuddered, and expanded, Kaiba's empty lungs filling with air. I nearly fainted in relief. "_That's it, Seto,_" I said, not even realizing that I had slipped into using my archenemy's first name. "_Just breathe_…" I murmured, rubbing the side of his hand with my thumb. "_Breathe_…."

**-o-**

Once again, I was stuck watching over my rival as he slept; and this time it wasn't even my own decision. No—the only reason I was here at all, I had convinced myself, was that Kaiba, Seto would not let go of my hand. Besides which, I had promised Mokuba that I would look after his brother while the younger got tested. 'I still can't believe it," I thought, staring at my sleeping rival's hand, clenched in my own. 'Mokuba really has cancer….' I shook my head. 'Unbelievable.'

Kaiba uttered a strange sort of guttural moan, and stirred a little on the bed, his grip on my hand tightening. "_Otö-sama_ (1)…no…" he groaned, tossing his head from side to side. "_Iie_…" he whimpered, beginning to thrash. "_IIE_!"

"Kaiba!" I exclaimed, and he flinched, fighting the grip I had on his hand.

"No!" he cried, sounding years younger. "Stop! Please!"

"Shh, Seto—"

He screamed, thrashing madly, crying. "NO!"

"Seto, stop it," I said, and then had a brainwave. "_Calm down, Seto_," I said in English, gripping his hand in mine. "_It's okay…calm down…there's no one here, Seto. It's all right. Calm down_…." Kaiba whimpered again, straining, and I continued to talk to him quietly in English.

"Hurts," he sobbed, and I winced, knowing what he was remembering.

"_I know, I know_," I said, looking to the ceiling for help. 'God, I'm so out of my league….' "_It's alright, Seto. It's alright._"

He made that keening sound again—that awful, animal-like cry, and suddenly I felt like throwing up. "Kaiba!" I yelled, giving up on my gentle act. "Wake up, God damn you!" I slapped him hard across the face, and he jerked awake with the sort of gasp a drowning person takes when they breaks the surface of the water. Wide blue eyes searched me out in the empty room, focusing in on my form, and they narrowed. But, to my surprise, instead of chewing my head off for just being there like he normally would, Kaiba turned over so that his back faced me, and remained silent. Finally, after a few minutes, I spoke again. "Kaiba?" I asked, "What's it like?"

He stiffened. "What?"

"What is it like…you know…living with a person who has…" I swallowed. "A person who's sick?"

Kaiba sighed, a bone-weary sigh, and replied, "It hurts."

"Like…physically?"

He shook his head. "It hurts my pride that I can't do a damn thing about it; it hurts my mind to recall all those statistics that show his chances; it hurts me to think that he might not make it through. It hurts to hide it; it hurts to show it, it just _hurts_, Jö."

I blinked. Jö. He had called me Jö. Not _Mutt_. Not _Inu_. Not _Jönöchi_. Jö. I smiled; it felt good, hearing Seto call me that. 'Wait…when did I start calling him "Seto"?' I wondered, frowning slightly.

'_About the same time he started calling you "Jö",' _the voice in my head replied smugly.

'Oh shut up,' I replied. Then, aloud, I said, "Hey, Seto?"

He sighed again. "What now, Jö?"

"…We friends now?"

"What?"

"Are we friends now? I mean…we're calling each other by first names -1- now, and all."

He sighed yet another time, and ran his fingers through his hair. "Sure, Jö, we're friends," he said, very quietly. But I suspect that he just said it so he could get back to sleep.

Poor guy. I don't think he gets much sleep.

—**Seto POV—**

I know Jö thought that I had gone back to sleep—I could fake it quite well; all one has to do is to learn how to properly control their breathing and their eye-movement—but…I just couldn't drop off. Perhaps it was the fact that I had just told Jö that I was friends with him. Perhaps it was simply the subliminal fear of the nightmares, creeping at the back of my mind. Or, maybe, it was a combination of the two.

But, whatever the reason, I still don't know whether to be glad, or whether to be disappointed that I couldn't go back to sleep.

**To be continued….**

_-winces- Sorry it's so short...but I had to get it out; and I really couldn't think of anything more to ramble on about in this chapter. I wanted to give you guys another 15-plus page update, and instead I give you a five-page one. -hangs head- I'm such a failure..._

On Reviews:  
_Ah, but this is why I miss **Saggi the Dark Clown**'s reviews…. She always had such interesting insight on the story—not that your reviews aren't helpful and appreciated!—but I actually had an excuse other than wanting to tell somebody about this, but whatever. I obviously wouldn't make a good magician—despite all my misleading cliffhangers, I'm _always _giving away my secrets. -.-; I lose at life. Anyways, the whole point of this message was to point something out that some of you may have noticed, just not mentioned. So…anyone noticed how Seto seems a little OoC, but that's not in the warnings? (Yes, I usually put that in there—but for this fic I don't think that it's _really _necessary, even though Seto can act a little out of character sometimes. -hides-) Yeah, but the reason that it's like that is because…well…you're looking at this how the _characters _see Seto. Seto, of course, is the most insightful, which is why I tend to choose his POV when it's time for him to crack again. Yuugi, too, thinks of Seto a little more as a person than the others; and Sandi…well, Sandi's known Seto for quite a while, obviously. He confides in her (YES, DAMN IT! SETO KAIBA CONFIDES IN SANDI!), so she knows. (She knowwwws, people. She knowwwws….) -laughs-_

_Yes, but, getting back on track—first person point of view. Very different from third person. A few of you may be thinking that Seto's acting really OoC—but that's just because of the light(s) you're seeing him in. In fact, when I begin to use POVs from the gang, then you'll get to see that they see him pretty much the same. Now, I realise that I'm not as "in character" as **Nenya85**, but I try, people. I try. I may need a few pointers, though; and helpful hints/constructive criticism is/are always welcome. In fact, if you want to drop a flame, feel free! I'll just laugh, and go on to debate endlessly with you—I enjoy rebutting points, especially. Ask any one of my friends about this (**Willowwind Adurois** might be an especially good one for this exercise)._

_In short: They really are in character (it's just your imagination!), and REVIEWREVIEWREVIEW!_

_As usual, review responses for chapter seven can be viewed on my LiveJournal account at _www(**DOT**)livejournal(**DOT**)com(**SLASH**)users(**SLASH**)Nachzes _(signed reviews will be replied to using FF.N's new IM system._

_Thank you very much for reading!_


	9. Chapter 9: Annie

**Warnings:  
**Future YAOI (JöXSeto), ANGST, MENTIONS OF UNDERAGE RAPE AND CHILD ABUSE

**Disclaimer:  
**You mean you haven't figured it out yet? Well, whatever: I don't own none of it. Chapter title gacked from Vanessa Carlton's "Harmonium" CD. _(Lyrics can be found at www(**DOT**)azlyrics(**DOT**)com.)_

**Summary:  
**When Mokuba Kaiba faints in the middle of school, and a devastating revelation concerning his health comes into view, will Seto be able to deal with the added complication to his already problematical life? And what will happen when Yuugi and the gang find out?

**Author's Notes (A/N's):  
1)** When people are yelling, the words will appear in CAPITAL LETTERS, when people are being sarcastic, it'll show up inside single quotes (apostrophes)  
**2)** "…" People speaking, or a quote  
**3)** '…' Thoughts and/or a voice in someone's head, or written words  
**4) **Memories are in _italics_, as are any 'stressed' words and/or syllables, and Japanese/French/whatever words (not English). If something is 'stressed' in a flashback or something else that's in _italics_, then it will be in plain text, because _italics_ on top of the _italics_ cancels the _italics_ out; now, are we clear?  
**5)** At the end, anything that has a (number) beside it will be translated, anything with a -number- beside it will be explained.  
**6)** A bolded _-o-_ indicates a time change. If needed, the amount of time that passed will be added between two _-o-_.  
**7)** Japanese names and ages

**Shattered Masks, Healed Hearts  
Book One: Opposites Attract  
Chapter Nine: Annie  
By: Nachzes Black-Rider**

—**Seto POV—**

Several minutes of silence followed the exchange between Jö and I before he spoke again; unlike before, however, he seemed hesitant, his voice softer, quieter, and the words halting. It seemed that he truly thought me to be asleep, and allowed myself a brief moment of self-congratulations before concentrating on what the blond was saying.

"…not as different as I thought, huh, Seto?" He paused, as if mulling over the idea of calling me by my given name…of us being "friends". "I mean," he finally continued, "you aren't so cold and unfeeling after all. You're still a prickly bastard, though; I'll give myself that, but that doctor had a point, I suppose. Nobody could be as cold as you are. …Seemed to be." He laughed to himself, and I could picture him rubbing the back of his head awkwardly, his signature move, or so it seemed, when he was embarrassed. "God, look at me, reduced to talking to a sleeping Seto fucking Kaiba. Weird, huh, considering that I'm telling you stuff I've never told anyone else…." He sighed. "But what I _really_ wanted to say is that I…know what it's like, I suppose," he continued hesitantly. "To not have a family, I mean," he clarified. "See, when I was ten, my mom just up and left one day. I guess Dad's drinking just got to be too much for her.

"Thing is, they never officially separated; they're both Catholics, you see, so they never got a divorce.

"So Mom left me with Dad and took my little sister—Shizuka, you'd remember her from Battle City. I guess she thought that I looked too much like Dad, or that she wouldn't be able to raise a boy…I don't know for sure. I haven't talked to her for six years now; not since she left, anyways." He cleared his throat and then paused for a few seconds, as if gathering his thoughts.

"I still remember," he said, "when I was little…I used to sit at the foot of my bed for _hours_ before I'd finally fall asleep there, just praying for God, or Jesus, or _somebody_ to make her come home. But she never did. I suppose that's when I finally stopped believing in a God, when she never came back.

"I think it hurt Dad, too, because he stopped coming home after work when mom left. Sometimes a week or so would pass before he'd show up, drunk and half of the time unconscious, at the apartment building. I'd have to let him in a lot of the time, because he'd forgotten the code to the building, or his key for the door had gone missing. The weird thing was, he always came home alone, and I don't think he ever paid anyone for sex, even when he was drunk. All he did was drink…but he's always been faithful to Mom, even now.

"Of course, since he was drunk, he'd hit me sometimes; nothing serious, though, just a bruise or a split lip or a black eye. The thing that hurt the most was that he'd never remember doing it in the morning. Once I got older, though, the hurt turned into resentment, and I started fighting back when he'd take a swing at me, until one day, we both ended up at the hospital. The doctor who treated me was named Ryo Takashi; he tried to get me to talk to a social worker, but I wouldn't do it, and I refused the next time, too, and the next, and the next." He stopped abruptly, the silence spiralling around us for what seemed like endless seconds I realised that I was holding my breath, and released it slowly, forcing myself to focus on regulating my breathing patterns once more. I knew that if Jö discovered me awake now, our tentatively-forged friendship could be torn down. At a loss for a reason why I even wanted to keep the friendship going, I turned my thoughts once again to what Jö was saying.

"After the sixth or seventh time, he just…stopped asking. I probably should have gone to see one the very first time it happened, but I didn't, and you know me and my pride. Too stubborn for my own good, like you.

"When I turned sixteen, I finally saved enough money to move out…or I thought I had, until Duellist Kingdom happened. I ended up back in the same old apartment with my dad when the tournament was over, having barely even moved out. Even my old bed was still there.

"I didn't want that bed, though. I didn't want the memories it brought, and I didn't want the life that I'd had before I'd moved out. I'd had a nibble of freedom, and I wanted to taste its sweetness again.

"So I wrecked havoc on that room. I shredded my mattress, disassembled my desk, smashed my lamp…I even tore down the curtains." He paused. "Then, once I'd finished destroying everything in that room, I sat down in the middle of the mess—in the centre of all the splinters, all the torn fabric, all the cracked wood—and I bawled my eyes out, because the memories were still there, even though I thought I'd destroyed everything that held them." Jö stopped there, hesitating for a good minute before continuing.

"My dad came home that night," the blond said, voice cracking, "and when he laid it into me after seeing my room, I just…couldn't fight back. Like I had lost the will to fight back, you know? That little…spark…that I'd felt before, that resentment, was gone, and all that was left was this frigging hole.

"See, even though my dad hits me, he's still my _dad_, and what I realised that night when I tore up my room was that I still loved him, even though I hardly ever see him sober. He's still my _dad_." He sighed, shifting in the hospital chair, the plastic creaking under his weight.

"So I guess I know where you're coming from, in a way," he said, "I mean…I never had it as bad as you, and I'm not trying to pretend that I did, but I do know what it's like to feel that helplessness, 'cause you can't fight back." There was a long pause, and then the mutt opened his mouth again. "I know you would've fought back, though," he said, "even though you were only little. That's how I figured it out, see; Gozaboro was threatening Mokuba, wasn't he? That's why you never fought back…that's why there were never any defensive wounds found when they examined you. I just want you to know, Seto"—again, the slight shock at using my first name—"that I know what it's like to be prepared to do anything to defend your kid brother, or sister, in my case. It's what happened in Duellist Kingdom for me. The only reason that I gave up that freedom I'd tasted was so that I'd have a chance of winning the prize money so that I could pay for Shizuka's eye operation, to save her sight." He laughed, slightly bitterly. "I was never invited to that tournament, Seto; I had to stow away on the boat, and pay my way through that whole weekend. But it was worth it," he said, "just to see Shizuka able to _see_ again when I saw her next, in Battle City…" he trailed off, and I knew that there was some part that he hadn't told me, some part that still remained a secret; a message, hidden inside the story. But I didn't pry, didn't ask, even though I normally would have.

After all, I was supposed to be asleep.

**-o-**

Having never actually gone to sleep, however, I was still awake when Sandi and Ai brought Mokuba back in from his tests. Aware of Sandi's gaze on my back, I did my best to appear asleep with my mind racing from what Jö had, unknowingly, let slip. Then, sensing that she had looked away, apparently suitably convinced that I was asleep, I felt a slight thrill of satisfaction at my acting ability.

I knew that Sandi would be the one carrying my little brother—no matter how close Ai, a respected oncologist -1-, and he became, Mokuba would always trust Sandi more. She treated me. And, no matter how I would love to deny the fact, I knew that my fierce love for my brother has caused him to act much the same about me. As much as I loved him more than myself, so he seemed to care more about my well-being than his. Therefore, since he trusted Sandi with my life, it would make sense that he would put his own in the balance, too. Sometimes, I had a hard time forgiving myself for this mistake, more than any other.

Then, to my surprise, Sandi handed Mokuba to Jö. "Here," she whispered, passing him Mokuba, who I knew would still be half-curled over in pain from the lumbar puncture -2- he had just had to endure. "Make sure you hold him gently," Sandi cautioned, and I felt a twinge of guilty pain at the fact that I wasn't the one comforting my brother.

I heard the door shut with a quiet _snick_ as Sandi left, and the room was silent for several long second until Jö finally decided to break the silence.

"Hey, Moku," I heard him say. "So, what's up? Did you know your brother and me are friends now?"

"Is '_Nii-sama_ going to be okay?"

That voice…so quiet and sombre. Was this what I had been at age eleven, after nearly two years with our stepfather? Was that where my brother had learned to act like this? I knew I hadn't been the best brother, not the best father-figure, not by far, and so the gentleness in Jö's response shocked me as well as adding to the mounting guilt which had begun to settle in my stomach.

"Seto's going to be fine, Mokuba. Just fine. He's just been stressing a lot over…things."

"Over me, you mean. I'm not an idiot, Jö. I'm Seto Kaiba's brother."

"I know, kid."

There was a pause. Then, "Jö?"

"Yeah."

"I don't like being sick."

"Uh huh. Why's that?"

"Because I never get to see '_Nii-sama_ being happy."

I didn't sleep at all that night, choosing instead to lie wide awake in the hospital bed, staring fixedly at the reflection of Mokuba and Jö in the window as they slowly slipped off into sleep, leaving me alone in my wakefulness.

**to be continued…**

_Translations, etc, from Chapter Eight:  
I'd forgotten to do the translations last chapter, so here they are (there's only two, so it's not so bad)._

_(1) _Otö-sama _is Japanese for _Father

_-1- Yes, I am well aware that Jö's first name is, in fact, _Katsuya_, not _Jönöchi_, however, he obviously prefers "Jö" to the alternative, as that is what all his friends call him._

_Translations, etc, from Chapter Nine:_

_-1- Oncology is the study of cancer, so an oncologist studies cancer, or is a doctor whose specialty is in cancer. In this case, Ai is a specialist in paediatric cancers (cancers which occur most often in children)._

_-2- A lumbar puncture, or a spinal tap, is the insertion of a needle between two lumbar vertebrae into the spinal cord in order to obtain a sample of cerebrospinal fluid for diagnosis or to introduce medication. Often, a lumbar puncture is used in cancer patients to see if the cancer has spread to the brain. (Definition taken from: Encarta ® World English Dictionary © & (P) 1998-2004 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.)_

_Notes From the Author:_

_Yeah, yeah, I know…sorry it's been so long! But I promise my friends all giftfics for their birthdays, and first there's one in mid October, then one in mid November, then one in early December, then one in late January…. Bah! And you guys all know how slow I write. CONSIDER YOURSELVES LUCKY I'VE STARED THIS NOW! Normally it would have stagnated for another week…or month…or so. Uh huh. Anywho, so I hope you liked the story (you know the drill—read, review, repeat (heh heh heh))._

_Chapter ten should be up by the end of the week, along with chapter seven of _Harry Potter and the Sennen Items_, for all of you people out there who read that, too. Can you all say "Yay for spring break"?_

_On Review Replies:_

_As usual, review responses for chapter eight can be viewed on my LiveJournal account at _www(**DOT**)livejournal(**DOT**)com(**SLASH**)users(**SLASH**)nachzes _(signed reviews will be replied to using FF.N's IM system)._

_Thank you very much for reading!_


	10. Chapter 10: I Need Some Sleep

**Warnings:  
**Future YAOI (JöXSeto), ANGST, MENTIONS OF UNDERAGE RAPE AND CHILD ABUSE

**Disclaimer:  
**You mean you haven't figured it out yet? Well, whatever: I don't own none of it. Chapter title borrowed from the _Shrek 2 _soundtrack; the song is written and preformed by the _Eels_. _(Lyrics can be found at _www(**DOT**)azlyrics(**DOT**)com_. If not, check Google.)_

**Summary:  
**When Mokuba Kaiba faints in the middle of school, and a devastating revelation concerning his health comes into view, will Seto be able to deal with the added complication to his already problematical life? And what will happen when Yuugi and the gang find out?

**Author's Notes (A/N's):  
1)** When people are yelling, the words will appear in CAPITAL LETTERS, when people are being sarcastic, it'll show up inside single quotes (apostrophes)  
**2)** "…" People speaking, or a quote  
**3)** '…' Thoughts and/or a voice in someone's head, or written words  
**4) **Memories are in _italics_, as are any 'stressed' words and/or syllables, and Japanese/French/whatever words (not English). If something is 'stressed' in a flashback or something else that's in _italics_, then it will be in plain text, because _italics_ on top of the _italics_ cancels the _italics_ out; now, are we clear?  
**5)** At the end, anything that has a (number) beside it will be translated, anything with a -number- beside it will be explained.  
**6)** A bolded _-o-_ indicates a time change. If needed, the amount of time that passed will be added between two _-o-_.  
**7)** Japanese names and ages

**Shattered Masks, Healed Hearts  
Book One: Opposites Attract  
Chapter Nine: I Need Some Sleep  
By: Nachzes Black-Rider**

—**Jö POV—**

It had been nearly a month since that fateful day when Seto's cell phone had gone off in class and Yuugi and I had followed him to the hospital. Nearly a month since we had found out about Mokuba's cancer. And, of course, nearly a month since I had told him about my past, although he had been sleeping at the time. It felt, somehow…_unreal_ that that much time had passed. Before that day, I had rushed through life, and it seemed that the world couldn't move fast enough for me: all I wanted to do was get a job, get a car, and get _out_; now, I tried to hold onto the little moments that I normally would have brushed aside. Little things like the glitter of sunlight in dewdrops on the small patch of lawn outside the apartment, the refraction of the light sending tiny bits of rainbows up onto every wall in sight.

Stupid things.

But I think that the reason I couldn't stop thinking about that stuff was because…in a few years…Mokuba might not get to experience it. The thought, though felt only in my subconscious mind, was sobering, and I often wondered if the reason that Seto never came to school anymore was because of Yuugi and I, or if it was because he was staying home with Mokuba again. I suspected that it was a combination of both.

I myself hadn't talked to anybody about it, not even my best friend; and I knew that Yuugi hadn't told a soul, either. Hell, I hadn't even talked to Seto himself about it; mainly because he never came to school anymore. Well, he did drop by sometimes after classes to pick up his homework, but he always managed to skilfully avoid me and my questions before I'd even gotten close enough to ask them. Normally I would have just cornered him, but the tentative friendship that had formed between my rival and I stopped me, along with something new I was beginning to feel for Seto. I…respected him now; his need for privacy made sense, and I wasn't going to risk the bond between us just to find out more information. Being friends with Seto Kaiba meant two things that I already knew, having only spent scant hours in the state: you couldn't pry, and you kept your distance. Strangely enough, I really felt no desire to find out more about anything, really. I didn't want to know what else had gone on in his past, and as long as I kept my distance, Mokuba's illness seemed surreal, in a way. I didn't want to think about any of it.

I couldn't stop thinking about that day, though. It was as if it was the proverbial "turning point" of my life—and, in hindsight, it was.

'What will you do now, Seto Kaiba?' I thought, feeling the slight pain as the weight of my head forced my elbow to dig deep into my thigh. 'What will you do when it starts to get worse again…or has it already?'

I was so deep in thought that when the knock on my door sounded, I nearly fell off the edge of the old, stained couch which I had been perched on. "Jö?" came Yuugi's muffled voice, "Are you coming? You promised that you would help me and '_jii-san_ with the inventory today, remember?"

"Aah, right! Be right there!" I called, hopping off the arm of the couch and grabbing my jean jacket off the coat hook by the door as I opened it, pulling the jacket on and stepping out into the hall, closing the door behind me. I didn't bother to lock it; I didn't have anything worth stealing, and if dad came home tonight while I was gone, he most likely wouldn't have his key. "So how's your grandpa doing, Yuugi?" I asked, falling into step beside him as we exited the apartment complex and started off towards the Game Shop. "He holding up all right?"

"He's fine," Yuugi said. "I keep telling him that he should settle down and retire; he keeps telling me not to worry."

"Same old, same old," I joked, and Yuugi grinned.

"Of course," he said. "'_Jii-san_ is prideful and stubborn, just like you and Kaiba-_kun_." He paused. "Have you talked to Kaiba-_kun_ since…" he trailed off, and shook his head when I didn't say anything. "Nevermind," he said, "it's not my business." It was the first time he—or I, for that matter—had said anything concerning that day at all; we didn't even talk about the Pythagorean Theorem anymore in our effort to avoid the uncomfortable subject.

We continued on in awkward silence for a few more minutes before I finally responded. "We're friends, you know," I said, and Yuugi looked up at me in surprise.

"Really?" he asked, astounded. "You and Kaiba-_kun_? Friends?" I nodded, and he grinned. "That's great, Jö!" he declared, hugging me around the middle and beaming. "Kaiba-_kun_ needs a friend; it's good someone finally got through to him. And you, of all people." He smiled wide and let go, walking beside me again: Yuugi, my best friend…but not always, I remembered -1-. "…super that you finally got over your grudge with him," Yuugi was saying, and I nodded automatically.

"It's great," I said. Paused. "We don't talk, though," I said. "Or do anything that we do, for that matter." Sighed.

"Kaiba-_kun_ is different, Jö," Yuugi said wisely. "It'll take time for him to warm up to you for one, and I think that the entire concept of friendship is strange for him."

I nodded; it made sense, after all, and I doubted that my amity with Seto would ever be the same as it was with Yuugi; for one thing, our friendship had started off differently—although it hadn't been _so_ different—and for another, Seto just wasn't the same type of person that Yuugi was. All of a sudden, I felt a nervousness that I hadn't known I was feeling disappear at Yuugi's reassurance, and was very briefly puzzled about why I even wanted this friendship to work out so well. I knew that Seto had probably only acceded to my request because of the exhaustion, both physical and mental, that he had to be feeling by that point in time, but I still wanted it to work out; I was serious about my friendships. I had learned only too quickly and too early on how easily bonds could be ruined so that it was painful to keep them alive, but impossible to break them all the same.

"Enough about me, Yuugi," I said, grinning and getting back into the swing of things in the conversation. "What about you? You asked Anzu out on a date yet?"

Yuugi sighed and shook his head. "No, I haven't had a chance, with her heading off to work the moment we get out of school. Plus you know that she really likes the Pharaoh, not me. We'll be getting together about the same time that you and Kaiba-_kun_ do."

I laughed. "Whoa, Yuugi, don't scare me there! Say that and I might just end up in Seto's arms!" Yuugi raised an eyebrow at me, and I grinned. "Anzu's really interested in _you_," I explained. "See, girls are like that when they like a guy: they'll try to make you jealous, to see how much you 'care about them'. If she thinks that you think that she thinks that work is more important than you _and_ that she likes another guy and you don't act any different around her, she thinks that you don't care. If you get all jealous, she thinks that you love her. Simple as that."

Yuugi groaned and held his head in his hands playfully. "Simple?" he asked. "That's the most complex thing I've ever heard come from _your_ mouth, Jönöchi! I'll never be able to figure out just how you can do so bad at school, and yet be so smart."

I shrugged, grinning. "Book smarts versus street smarts," I said. "I have the street smarts; Kaiba has the book smarts…but you, little Yuugi," I teased, "have nothing -2-."

"Hey!"

I chortled and pretended to try to dodge his fake punch. "Oww," I joked, grinning and rubbing my arm, "that hurt!"

"Good," Yuugi said, acting as if he was affronted. "I'm glad; that was mean."

"Aww, you know I didn't mean it," I wheedled. "Come on, Yuugi…."

He grinned and cuffed me again. "Alright, alright you big oaf!" he said. "I 'forgive' you, alright?"

"Great," I said. "Super. Excellent. Out_standing_. Brilliant. Admirabl—"

"Shut up, you," Yuugi laughed, half-groaning. "No one would ever know you had such a good vocabulary!" he exclaimed, rolling his eyes playfully at me. "How come the only time it comes out is when we're joking around?"

"'Cause it's fun then. School's boring," I explained, as if it should be obvious, rolling my eyes at Yuugi's look of astonishment.

"No!" he said. "School's fun!"

"Yuugi, you're at the bottom of the class!"

"Yeah, but I have fun doing…nothing," he insisted, and I shook my head in disbelief, grinning.

"Yuugi," I said, slapping him on the back as we walked into the Game Shop, the bell above the door tinkling in welcome, "you are one of a kind."

**-o-**

"Well," I groaned, heaving a stack of file folders up onto the front counter and brushing the dust off my clothes, "that's the last of it; inventory for the whole year." I grinned. "Anything else you want me to help with, '_Jii-san_?"

"Well…you could help me stack these shelves here," Yuugi's grandpa said. "They're too high for me to reach, and I don't want to use a ladder; the boxes are too heavy." He gestured to a pile of cardboard boxes in a pile on the floor. "They're action figures of Duel Monsters," he explained, taking the X-Acto knife off his belt and slitting open the tape holding the box flaps closed. "Could you do it?" he asked.

"Sure," I said, hefting one box into my arms and beginning to stack miniature plastic versions of Black Magician and his counterpart, Black Magician Girl.

"Thank you, my boy," Grandpa said, smiling and clapping me on the back, "you're a great help, you know that?"

I grinned. "All in a days work, '_Jii-san_," I said, setting the empty box down and moving onto the dragon figurines. I faltered slightly when it came to the Blue Eyes White Dragons, my mind instantly flicking back to Seto and Mokuba's situation, but brushed the worries aside and focussed on keeping the wizards and the dragons separate, grinning as I placed a Red Eyes Black Dragon right beside a Blue Eyes, the two glaring daggers at each other, fake, bright red plastic flames spouting from the former's mouth, while sparkly silver fire spouted from the latter's. Suddenly the door to the shop swung open, the bell nearly having a fit as the glass barrier was slammed into it so fast. I whirled around, eyes widening at the sight of a harried-looking Mokuba Kaiba standing in the doorway, indigo eyes wide and frightened, black hair in disarray.

"Jönöchi-_kun_!" he cried, hurrying over to me, "You have to help me—him—us! '_Nii-sama_ says he can't breathe!" My eyes went wide and he seized my arm, attempting to pull me out of the shop. "Hurry!" he cried. "Jö, you need oxygen to live!"

Immediately I dropped whatever Duel Monster I had been holding and sprinted after Mokuba, tossing a "sorry '_Jii-san_" over my shoulder to Yuugi's grandfather as the door to the Game Shop slammed shut behind me.

"Where's Seto?" I asked Mokuba once we were outside, feeling the quickening of my pulse as adrenaline and alarm rushed through my bloodstream, squinting against the bright autumn sunlight.

"Over here!" Mokuba cried, tugging me towards the yawning mouth of an alleyway (no doubt Seto had ducked in there to avoid being under the penetrating gazes of passers-by). "Jö!" he said again, attempting to pull me again, "come on!"

I couldn't move.

Seto was in some sort of half-sitting position, back propped up against the brick wall behind him and hands clenched at his sides, face contorted in pain as he attempted to draw in breath, only to dissolve into a fit of coughing, pink froth staining his lips as he hacked up blood mixed with phlegm. Even with my very limited knowledge of First Aid, gathered from assorted Gym and Health classes, I knew what that meant: a punctured lung, or some kind of lung disease. I took a wild guess and went for the first one. "Oh, my God," I said, voice low, attracting Seto's immediate attention. "Kid, I can't do this. Your brother needs—"

"I've already called Sandi," Mokuba said tearfully, and I realised that the poor kid was scared out of his mind, "Jö, you have to stay with him while I wait for her! You have to—"

"Okay, okay Mokuba," I said, doing my best to sound calm and controlled, as Seto's eyes flickered from me to his brother as he took another wheezing breath. "Okay," I said again, "It's alright; I'm not going to leave. Everything's going to be just fine. Why don't you go wait for…Sandi…over there," I said, pointing to the entrance to the alleyway. "That way when she gets here she'll be able to see you. I'll stay right here with Seto, alright?"

Mokuba nodded and dashed up the alleyway, and I turned to Seto, who was looking at me with an expression of gratefulness; as always, the idiot was more concerned for Mokuba's sake than his own.

"It's all going to be okay—" I began but Seto cut me off, voice deceptively calm, even with the distinct wheezing undertone.

"Shut up, Jö," he said.

"Right," I responded immediately, feeling vaguely light-headed. "Umm…."

"God, you suck at this," Seto commented, and I forced a laugh, panic threatening to send it into the giggling throes of insanity as the brunette dissolved into another coughing fit, flecks of blood spraying onto his once-pristine dress shirt.

"That's the Seto I remember," I said, "same old insults. I thought we were friends, huh? What happened to friends?" I searched my mind for something to say, but came up with nothing, cursing myself inwardly as I racked my brain. "Hey, Seto," I said, struck by sudden inspiration, "remember after Duellist Kingdom when we whopped the Big Five's asses together? Wasn't that awesome?"

"You…saved Mokuba," he gasped, pressing a hand to his chest as if in an attempt to stop the inevitable coughing that would come from the strain of speech on his injured lungs. "I…thank you."

"No problem, Seto," I said. "It's never a problem; we're friends, remember?"

"Friends…" Seto rasped, and made a sound that was probably meant to be a laugh, but turned into a half-gasp, half-groan of pain. "Fuck, that hurts," he said from between gritted teeth, shifting slightly on the ground as his hands clenched tighter, knuckles scraping the asphalt.

"What happened?" I asked, realising only after I asked the question that I shouldn't let Seto talk. "Neverm—"

"CPR…sometimes cracks ribs," he got out, gasping for wasted breath. "I…didn't realize…until today…that one rib…cracked. This morning I…went…to the dojo, and—" he went off on a tirade of coughing, and I wordlessly held his shoulders to keep him from straining his ribs further. "Chest hurt," he continued, "didn't…pay attention…." He made that noise again, that noise that was _supposed_ to be a laugh. "Stupid, huh?"

"No," I said, "no, it wasn't stupid. Who pays attention to little pains, anyways? I remember one time I'd cracked a rib; I didn't pay attention to it, either; the doctors actually had to tie me to the bed so I wouldn't leave and over-exert myself."

Seto laughed again, or tried to, and squeezed his eyes shut in pain. "Mutt…you…."

"Yeah, Seto?"

"…Like me," he gasped, struggling for breath. "Don't…pay…attention to doctors. Too…stubborn."

I laughed weakly. "Yeah," I said, "that's me. Too stupid and stubborn to listen to others' good advice."

"Not…stupid," Seto wheezed. "Never stupid. Just…angry. Unwilling to learn. Anyone who can…learn rules of Duel Monsters can't be…stupid!"

"But I can't play—"

"Yes…can." Seto grinned wolfishly at me. "Not as well as…me…maybe. Better than others." He coughed again, spasms racking his whole body as I tried to help hold him down. "You…good duellist…" he got out, "made it into…Battle City. Finished…third."

I opened my mouth to reply, but another voice cut me off.

"Seto? Oh, my God—what _happened_?" the doctor from before—Sandi—asked, running up to us.

"…Rib—" Seto broke off panting for breath, then started to speak again, but I interrupted him.

"One of his ribs was cracked from last month, when they did CPR," I explained. "He didn't notice it until this morning, when he was practicing…" I glanced at Seto, "at the dojo. He felt chest pains, but didn't think anything of them until later today, when he was walking down here on the way to the Game Shop to talk to me. He became short of breath, and started coughing up blood; Mokuba led him in here so no one would know, and ran to get me. And that's where you showed up," I told her, and glanced at Seto for confirmation. By the small nod he gave me, I knew I had inferred correctly; he had been on his way to see me.

The doctor was poking at Seto's chest as she felt for the cracked rib, making the brunette wince. "Here?" she asked, fingers poised over one particular area of his torso. Seto nodded and she set a bag on the ground in front of her, pulling out a small tub of salve and a long strip of white bandages. "Okay," she said calmly, "Jö, you're going to need to brace him from behind while I do this. I need to get his shirt off, and then I'm going to wind these"—she gestured to the bandages—"around his chest. The cream will help ease the pain, which will make breathing easier. We'll have to get him to the hospital to remove the bone chip, though. "

I nodded in understanding and took my position behind Seto, sitting on my knees and, ignoring the pain from the tiny rocks digging into my kneecaps, holding him up by winding my arms under his. "Ready," I said shortly, and Sandi nodded, carefully easing Seto's shirt off his torso and opening the tub of ointment, taking some out and spreading it over the large blackish-purple bruise which was covering a part of the left side of his lower chest. Placing the lid back on the container of salve, she picked up the bandages and began to wind them tightly around the area, seeming to ignore Seto's quick inhalation of pain, although she did falter a little at it.

"Okay," she said finally, securing the bandages with a safety pin. "Let's get him up, and move him to my truck; Jö, don't forget his shirt."

"Right," I said, and grabbed it, helping to support Seto as we made our way slowly over to the truck where Mokuba sat in the back of the cab already, watching us through the window.

"Easy does it," Sandi said, helping Seto up into the passenger's seat. I let go of his arm and opened the door to the back of the cab, climbing in beside Mokuba and slamming the door behind me. "Seatbelt?" Sandi asked, and both Mokuba and I obeyed by buckling up. "Alright," Sandi said, "off to Tokyo General Hospital we go."

"Home sweet home," the younger Kaiba muttered bitterly beside me, and when I turned to look at him, I realized for the first time that his hair was slightly off colour, and shorter than usual.

Mokuba was wearing a wig.

—**Seto POV—**

'Almost a month,' I thought. 'One whole month since Yuugi and Jö discovered my—Mokuba's—secret. One month of wondering when that secret will leak out through one of Yuugi's little gang; one month of cursing myself for my moment of weakness; one _month_ of wondering why on Earth I had _ever_ consented to be Jönöchi's friend.' I shook my head and closed the laptop in front of me on the desk; my head was too crowded, the thoughts running around my mind at random intervals far too muddled, for me to work now. I couldn't even type a single line of code without my thoughts drifting back to That Day, as I had begun to refer to it as. I sighed, packing the laptop away in my velvet-lined briefcase, and stood, pulling on my trench coat as I hit the intercom button on my desk, the one for the line that led to my secretary's desk. "Cancel all this afternoon's appointments," I ordered. "I'm leaving for the day; have anyone who needs me call me on my cell phone. And make sure that it's _important_ before they do so. I do not wish to be interrupted today."

"_H-hai_, Kaiba-_sama_," she stuttered, and I terminated the connection, grabbing my briefcase and striding towards the private elevator in my office, sliding my locket through the card slot, and leaning in for the retinal scan, hand splayed across a scanning pad.

"Identification confirmed: Kaiba, Seto. Access granted," said a feminine-sounding mechanical voice as the sheet metal doors slid open, allowing me entry into the elevator; entry that only two people in the world could have: my little brother, and myself. The elevator, which was completely bullet-proof, devoid of any cameras whatsoever, and operated on its own air supply, led to a private parkade, which in turn continued as an underground road until it met up with the underground parking site beneath the Tokyo Public Library. At this point I had to enter a code to allow the 'wall' in front of me to open, allowing me to continue on home.

"Well at least Mokuba will be glad to see I'm home early," I muttered, fishing in my pockets for my car keys. "In fact…" I glanced at my watch, "I'll be able to pick him up from school if I hurry."

Comforted by this thought, I drew out my cell phone and tapped the speed dial for Isono's cell. "Isono-_san_," I said briskly, my manner instantly becoming business-like as I exited the elevator (the doors had opened moments ago with a quiet _ding!_), shoes clacking slightly on the cement floor.

"_Hai_, Kaiba-_sama_."

"I want you to cancel your plans for picking Mokuba up at noon today; I've left work early, and plan to do it myself."

"Of course, Kaiba-_sama_," my chief of security replied, and I hung up, satisfied. Short, succinct, and no questions asked—just the way I liked things done. Plugging the phone into its charger in the car (a sleek, metallic blue Corvette C6: custom painted with an eye-catching Blue Eyes White Dragon superimposed upon the KaibaCorp logo, slick black leather interior, and custom-fitted with deep blue running lights along the vehicle's underside), I climbed in and inserted the keys into the ignition, feeling the car come to life under me as I turned them. Revving the engine a couple times, I hit the _Play_ button for the CD player and sped out of the parkade, stopping only briefly to enter my password at the exit and put on a pair of blue-tinted sunglasses before driving up the ramp and into the sunlight. Squinting, rock music thudding in my ears, I waited for a break in traffic before turning onto the road, heading towards Mokuba's school. Once, while stopped at a read light, I felt a sharp, fleeting pain in my lower chest, reminiscent of the sensation I had experienced there earlier this morning while practicing at the dojo, but I brushed it off and continued driving, a smile threatening to break its way through the normal cold expression on my face.

I couldn't wait to see the look on Mokuba's.

**-o-**

I pulled up in front of Mokuba's school just in time, the piercing sound of the lunch bell preceding the mad rush for fresh air as a tidal wave of Elementary-age students came pouring out of the school. I caught a glimpse of black hair; a flash of Mokuba's Blue Eyes White Dragon backpack, and honked the horn, making half a dozen kids look up in surprise.

"'_Nii-sama_!" Mokuba exclaimed, running towards me. "What are you doing here?" he asked, throwing his backpack into the back and climbing in beside me. "I thought Isono-_san_ was going to pick me up," he said.

"I decided to leave work early today," I explained, looking him over carefully. "Are you alright, Mokuba? You're not too tired?"

He smiled and rolled his eyes, brushing aside my concern easily, "I'm fine, Seto," he said, "really," he added, seeing my expression of doubt.

"If you're sure," I said, and he nodded. "Okay," I said, "in that case, where do you want to go for lunch?"

Mokuba shifted in his seat. "Can we go for pizza?" he asked, and I raised an eyebrow.

"Pizza?" I repeated, wary.

"Yeah…."

I sighed, putting the car into gear. "Alright," I conceded. "Pizza it is." I glanced across at him. "Buckle up, Mokuba," I said.

"Seto?"

"What?"

"Can I invite a friend?"

"Who did you have in mind?"

"Well, seeing as he's the only one who's your friend, too, I thought we could, you know, take Jö out for pizza."

I groaned, half-laughing. "Mokuba," I said, "Jö—the mutt would eat two pizzas by himself!"

Mokuba grinned, and shrugged. "So? _You're_ not going to eat any." He frowned disapprovingly at this, but decided not to comment on my eating habits as of late, and instead continued. "Besides, I assume you have enough money for it." He reached down to buckle his seatbelt, and I rolled my eyes.

"Fine," I said, "pizza with Jö it is."

"Seto?"

"Yes."

"Can we walk to the Game Shop?"

I raised an eyebrow at my little brother once again, slightly confused as to why he wanted to walk three blocks to the Kame Game Shop. "Why?" I asked.

Mokuba just shrugged again.

"Okay," I said, removing my keys from the ignition and climbing out of the car. "We'll walk."

Grinning, Mokuba hopped out of the convertible onto the sidewalk and stood there waiting as I collected my briefcase and my pager, leaving my cell phone in the car for the time being. "Ready to go?" I asked the bouncy Mokuba, and he fell into step beside me, leading the way towards the Game Shop, since I had only been there once before, when I'd gone to buy Sugokoru's Blue Eyes.

We were almost at the shop when the nagging sting I had been feeling in my chest since that stoplight suddenly erupted into full-fledged pain. I nearly doubled over, gasping for breath, only to find that I couldn't _breathe_. I coughed, trying to get whatever was blocking my airway _out_, and saw Mokuba recoil in horror out of the corner of my eye when I hacked up blood. Forcing myself to stop coughing, I stood up, making sure to keep my breathing slow and shallow. "Mokuba," I croaked, and cleared my throat, careful not to cough again, and just as careful to keep my voice steady; let no trace of the slight panic I was feeling show through. "Go get Jö—" I broke off into another fit of coughing, glancing around at the people who were starting to stare.

"'_Nii-sama_," Mokuba cried, and I could hear the high note of tension in his voice, "what's going on?"

"It's going to be alright, Mokuba," I said. "Come over here," I said, leading the way into an alleyway until we were significantly out of sight from the people on the main street. "Here's what I need you to do, Mokuba," I said, making sure to speak slowly, voice calm, "I need you to…phone Sandi on your cell, and tell her to…come pick us up at the corner of…thirty-first avenue and twenty-second street. …I…need you to…tell her that I'm having trouble breathing and…that I'm coughing up…blood; she'll know…what it means. Then, when you've done that, I need you to…run and get…Jönöchi—no, you need…need to get him, Mokuba," I said to quell his feeble protests. "…As I was saying," gasped, running out of breath, "I need you to go…go get Jö from the Game Shop, and bring him here, okay?" I felt another coughing fit coming on, and tried desperately to avoid it. "Do you…understand, Mokuba?" I asked, and he nodded. I nodded as well and leaned back against the hard brick wall of the alleyway, slowly sinking down into a semi-sitting position and closing my eyes as I fought to ward off the tell-tale itch in my throat.

Finally Mokuba got Sandi's number dialled and ran off down the street, phone still head to one ear as he sped towards the store. Left alone, my straining breaths turned into raspy, wet coughs as my body automatically tried to expel the stuff that was, ironically, I thought at the time, both life and death to me. 'To die choking on one's own blood,' I thought to myself as I hacked and coughed, 'is truly a sardonic fate. The very liquid which gives you life…delivers your means of an end. How wonderful.' I gasped again for breath, the fit of coughing having ended, though now the pain in my lower chest was nearly unbearable. I shifted uncomfortably, my hands balling into fists at my sides, gritting my teeth and breathing through my nose as I fought to keep in control of my own body.

'I will not cough,' I thought firmly, knuckles scraping against the rough pavement under me and tearing, leaving tiny streaks of blood. 'I will _not_ cough! I will _not_!'

"—come on!" came Mokuba's voice, and then Jö's:

"Oh, my God." I started slightly, raising my head to look at the mouth of the alleyway, where both Jö and my brother stood, Mokuba tugging fruitlessly at the blond's arm as he stood there, staring.

'Don't just look, you idiot!' I thought to myself as my lungs screamed in pain, 'Get the fuck over here!'

"Kid, I can't do this. Your brother needs—"

"I've already called Sandi," Mokuba cried tearfully, "Jö, you have to stay with him while I wait for her! You have to—"

"Okay, okay Mokuba," Jö said, and I realised, with a private groan, that they were both scared out of their minds. "Okay," Jö said again, as if trying to reassure himself. "It's alright; I'm not going to leave. Everything's going to be just fine. Why don't you go wait for…Sandi…over there," he said, pointing to the mouth of the alleyway, relieving me slightly in the way that he did know how to do _some_ things right. "That way when she gets here she'll be able to see you. I'll stay right here with Seto, alright?" He turned to me, obviously hesitating over what to do. "It's all going to be okay—" he started, and I rolled my eyes and cut him off. I wasn't a baby.

"Shut up, Jö," I said.

"Right. Umm…."

"God, you suck at this," I ground out from between clenched teeth, voice wheezy. Jö laughed, looking slightly faint as I erupted into another coughing fit, droplets of blood landing on my shirt and the ground.

"That's the Seto I remember," Jö said over my hacking, "same old insults. I thought we were friends, huh? What happened to friends?" he asked, voice taking on a slightly higher pitch. He paused for a minute, obviously searching for something to say, and then blurted, "remember after Duellist Kingdom when we whopped the Big Five's asses together? Wasn't that awesome?"

"You…saved Mokuba," I gasped. "I…thank you." Feeling the pain in my chest flare again, I pressed a hand to it to try and lessen it, but it only made it worse. Cracked rib, most definitely.

"No problem, Seto," he babbled on. "It's never a problem; we're friends, remember?"

"Friends…" I rasped, and tried to laugh, but found that I couldn't; instead, it turned into some breathy gasping-groaning hybrid that was nothing _near_ what a laugh was supposed to sound like . "Fuck, that hurts," I forced out, gritting my teeth and shifting slightly on the ground, ignoring as my knuckles scraped against the asphalt again.

"What happened?" Jö asked quickly, and then just as quickly tacked on a hasty "never mind".

"CPR…sometimes cracks ribs," I said, struggled to speak. Gasping to recover my wasted breath, I continued. "I…didn't realize…until today…that one rib…cracked. This morning I…went…to the dojo, and—" I broke off into a fit of coughing, and Jö helped hold me immobile as I waited for the spasms to pass. "Chest hurt," I said. "Didn't…pay attention…." I tried to laugh again, and it didn't work. Again. "Stupid, huh?"

"No," Jö said, face serious. "No, it wasn't stupid. Who pays attention to little pains, anyways? I remember one time I'd cracked a rib; I didn't pay attention to it, either; the doctors actually had to tie me to the bed so I wouldn't leave and over-exert myself."

I forced myself to laugh again, wondering to myself if that had been the first time he had "fought back" against his father. "Mutt…you…" I began.

"Yeah, Seto?"

"…Like me," I gasped, struggling for breath. "Don't…pay…attention to doctors. Too…stubborn."

He laughed weakly. "Yeah," he said, "that's me. Too stupid and stubborn to listen to others' good advice."

"Not…stupid," I wheezed, turning a slight glare on him, though nowhere near as intimidating as it could have been, had I had my strength, and not be struggling to just _breathe_. "Never stupid," I continued. "Just…angry. Unwilling to learn. Anyone who can…learn rules of Duel Monsters can't be…stupid!" I said vehemently.

"But I can't play—" he began, and I waved his feeble argument aside, grinning wolfishly at him, something I had learned from my stepfather.

"Yes…can. Not as well as…me…maybe. Better than others." I broke off coughing again, spasms racking my entire body as Jö tried to help hold me down. "You…good duellist…" I gasped. "Made it into…Battle City. Finished…third."

'Ahead of me,' I added bitterly to myself, but refused to say so out loud. I had my pride, and my limits.

Jö opened his mouth as if to argue with me, but suddenly Sandi's familiar voice interrupted him.

"Seto? Oh, my God—what _happened_?" she asked, blue eyes wide as she ran up to me, kneeling on the ground beside Jö.

"…Rib—" I tried to say, but broke off panting for breath. I opened my mouth to try again, but Jö interrupted me.

"One of his ribs was cracked from last month, when they did CPR," he explained. "He didn't notice it until this morning, when he was practicing at the dojo. He felt chest pains, but didn't think anything of them until later today, when he was walking down here on the way to the Game Shop to talk to me. He became short of breath, and started coughing up blood; Mokuba led him in here so no one would know, and ran to get me. And that's where you showed up," he told Sandi, glancing at me as if for confirmation. I gave him a small nod; he had inferred correctly.

Sandi began prodding at my chest with nimble fingers, watching my face for a reaction. "Here?" she asked, fingers poised over the area of my torso that hurt the most. I nodded and she set a bag on the ground in front of her, pulling out a small tub of salve and a long strip of white bandages. "Okay," she said calmly, "Jö, you're going to need to brace him from behind while I do this. I need to get his shirt off, and then I'm going to wind these"—she gestured to the bandages—"around his chest. The cream will help ease the pain, which will make breathing easier. We'll have to get him to the hospital to remove the bone chip, though. "

Jö nodded and positioned himself behind me, holding me up by winding his arms under mine. "Ready," he said, and Sandi nodded, carefully easing my shirt off and opening the tub of ointment, taking some out and spreading it over the large blackish-purple bruise which was covering a part of the left side of my lower chest. Placing the lid back on the container of salve, she picked up the bandages and began to wind them tightly around the area.

'Fuck, that hurts,' I thought to myself, inhaling sharply through my nose and tensing up, eyes squeezing shut as she continued.

"Okay," she said finally. "Let's get him up, and move him to my truck; Jö, don't forget his shirt."

"Right," he said, and grabbed it, helping me walk slowly over to Sandi's truck, where Mokuba sat in the back of the cab already, watching us through the window.

"Easy does it," Sandi said, carefully steadying me as I climbed into the passenger's seat in the front of the cab as Jö climbed in the back, seating himself beside Mokuba. "Seatbelt?" Sandi asked. "Alright," she continued, "off to Tokyo General Hospital we go."

I was sure I heard Mokuba's sullen mutter of "Home sweet home" from the backseat, and frowned to myself, but refrained from commenting. He was, after all, quite right.

**-o-**

The time at the hospital passed in flashes—by the time Sandi and Jö had half-dragged, half-carried me into the Emergency Room and demanded a gurney for me to lie on, I was barely conscious, the pain in my chest causing me to breathe in short, quick gasps, a sense of panic fogging my mind.

I think I passed out at some point and time, because when I next opened my eyes, it was not to the ceiling flashing past in front of my eyes, but rather a _static_ ceiling, and three worried faces looking down at me from chairs at the bedside.

"Mokuba…?" I mumbled, the words coming out thick and slurred. 'Anaesthetic,' I thought, 'from the surgery, probably.' Frowning, I put more effort into my sluggish speech, relieved when I sounded closer to my normal self when I spoke again. "Jö? Sandi? What are you doing here?"

Mokuba made a _tch!_ sound, frowning at me, and Sandi rolled her eyes. Jö, on the other hand, seemed to take offence from the words. "What do you mean 'what are you doing here'?" he asked, appearing shocked. "We're waiting for you to wake up!"

"Well," I said, "I'm awake n—"

"Oh no you don't," Jö said, grinning evilly and pushing me back down on the bed when I tried to get up, making Sandi and Mokuba smile appreciatively. "_You're_ not leaving this hospital until you're _healed_," he said.

I frowned. "Mutt," I began, "I'm not—"

"Oh yes you are, Seto," Mokuba said, and Sandi nodded firmly.

"You're not leaving until you're completely fine," she said, standing up and dusting off her knees. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go back to my regularly-scheduled rounds. You know, the ones that don't include rescuing teenage CEOs who were too proud to submit to being properly examined after undergoing CPR." She grinned at me and left, shutting the door behind her.

"Great," I mumbled," What am I supposed to do _now_?"

Jö and Mokuba looked at each other, faces breaking out into identical grins. "Well," they said, "_we_ have some ideas…."

**to be continued….**

_Translations, etc:_

_-1- Despite popular belief (or so it seems, in fandom YGO), Yuugi and Jö weren't always best friends. In fact, Jö and Honda (that's Tristan, to all you dubbies), used to bully Yuugi until one day when…something happened, and Jö returned the piece of the puzzle he'd stolen. Confusing, I know. Sorry._

_-2- Okay, I just HAD to put that one in. Seriously. Everyone in fandom thinks that Yuugi's at the top of the class, along with Anzu and Seto, while Jö and Honda are down at the bottom. Not true. Yuugi's actually down at the bottom with Jö and Honda. As for Anzu…yeah, I'll give you that, she's pretty "book smart", as Jö would say._

_Notes From the Author:_

_Hey all! How're you doing? So how do you think the time transition went; you know, the month between chapter nine and chapter ten? I think it went okay…then again, you're the ones reading it, and you don't have all the detailed information I have lodged away in my brain and on countless scraps of paper lying around my room._

_Sorry that I made the employees call Seto "Kaiba-_sama"_, while in the Japanese anime, they call him "Seto_-sama"_. You'll just have to bear with me; I'm kind of skmooching the sub and the dub together._

_And I know, I know, I know—it took a MONTH for Seto's cracked rib to act up? Well…yeah. Sure. Why the Hell not? You'll just have to accept it; because I'm not re-writing the whole damn chapter. -sulks-_

_Oh, and one more thing…NEVER try and write an angst-filled fanfic while attempting to watch Flash videos dedicated to Seto Kaiba at the same time. Many are filled with corny songs and bad screen cuts, which is not very good for Inspiration._

_On Review Replies:_

_As usual, review responses for chapter nine can be viewed on my LiveJournal account at _www(**DOT**)livejournal(**DOT**)com(**SLASH**)users(**SLASH**)nachzes _(signed reviews will be replied to using FF.N's IM system)._

_Thank you very much for reading!_


	11. Chapter 11: How You Remind Me

**Warnings:  
**Future YAOI (JöXSeto), ANGST, MENTIONS OF UNDERAGE RAPE AND CHILD ABUSE

**Disclaimer:  
**Don't own it; chapter title by _Nickelback_.

**Summary:  
**When Mokuba Kaiba faints in the middle of school, and a devastating revelation concerning his health comes into view, will Seto be able to deal with the added complication to his already problematical life? And what will happen when Yuugi and the gang find out?

**Author's Notes (A/N's):  
1)** When people are yelling, the words will appear in CAPITAL LETTERS, when people are being sarcastic, it'll show up inside single quotes (apostrophes)  
**2)** "…" People speaking, or a quote  
**3)** '…' Thoughts and/or a voice in someone's head, or written words  
**4) **Memories are in _italics_, as are any 'stressed' words and/or syllables, and Japanese/French/whatever words (not English). If something is 'stressed' in a flashback or something else that's in _italics_, then it will be in plain text, because _italics_ on top of the _italics_ cancels the _italics_ out; now, are we clear?  
**5)** At the end, anything that has a (number) beside it will be translated, anything with a -number- beside it will be explained.  
**6)** A bolded _-o-_ indicates a time change. If needed, the amount of time that passed will be added between two _-o-_.  
**7)** Japanese names and ages

**Shattered Masks, Healed Hearts  
Book One: Opposites Attract  
Chapter Eleven: How You Remind Me  
.nachzes black-rider**

— **Seto POV— **

Friends.

It was still a strange word for me to say…or even think, for that matter. Still, I couldn't stop myself from rolling it around in my mind—or occasionally speaking it aloud, just to test it's exotic flavour on my tongue. Friends. Jö and I were friends.

It may have been a month and a half since he'd proposed the friendship and I'd accepted, and two weeks since he'd very nearly saved my life, but I still hadn't gotten used to the word, or the phrase, never mind the fact that he came to visit me every day, cutting class in favour of getting the best of visitors' hours.

The first day, after I woke up from surgery, he and Mokuba had proceeded to deny me my laptop, instead making me playing endless games of cards and Duel Monsters with them, not to mention nagging me to eat every half hour. Seeing the two of them laughing together made me remember the night when I'd seen Jö holding Mokuba, and I felt a sudden pang of sorrow and resentment toward Jö, but I knew that I couldn't keep pushing him away because of it.

Every other time when I had been sick—which was actually very rare, but, as Sandi says, sometimes I tend to "neglect my own health in favour of Mokuba's"—either Sandi or Ai, and Isono, had taken care of him while I was stuck in the hospital. But I couldn't deny the bond that was developing between Jö and my brother, and I knew that the mutt was a good brother…so two weeks ago, while he and Mokuba were preparing to leave, I'd asked Jö if he'd take care of the other; his answer was his usual quirky grin and a boisterous _yes_.

Even two weeks later, the feeling that I could trust somebody other than myself, Mokuba, or Sandi, was still taking me by surprise.

Friends. I rolled the word around in my mind again, then tried it out loud: "Jö and I are friends."

Why?

I thought about it…even if Yuugi and his little _tachi_ were always preaching about how friendship needed no reason, my mind needed to find one. I was an analyst, carefully considering the pros and cons of each possible decision before I finally made one. The friendship between myself and Jönöchi had not been pre-meditated. It had simply seemed…right…to trust him. _Right_ to consider him my friend.

I was interrupted in my musings by a sharp rap on the door and a nurse's muffled voice telling me that I had a visitor. "Let him in," I called, knowing who it was even before I heard the hearty "Hey, Seto!" and saw the now-familiar tousled mop of blond hair. "_Konichiwa_, Jö," I said, placing my weight on my hands as I shifted into a sitting position. "How is Mokuba doing?"

"He's tired," Jö replied promptly, and I nodded; it was to be expected, after all. "He's…been dozing off quite a bit in class; the note to get him out of Gym helped, but I think that he's trying to push himself too much. He can't do this, Seto."

This time I looked away. I'd known what I'd had to do last time this happened, and I knew now. "When I get back home I'll start home-schooling him," I said. "I'll pull him out of school at the end of this week—a note to each of his teachers should do the trick."

"Speaking of getting out…" Jö looked at me, grinning, "when do you get out of this place? You had your final physical yesterday, right?"

I nodded. "And Sandi said I could leave in a week…so…six days from today. I'm counting down."

Jö grinned. "I don't see a calendar," he said.

"Ha ha," I retorted, sitting back against my hospital bed and wincing at the tiny pain in my chest. "You know, you were much easier to get along with when you _couldn't_ take part in an exchange of witty banter."

"The mere fact that you are now friends with me disproves that point," Jö said.

"I became friends with you when you still couldn't banter wittily."

"Point."

"Thank you."

There was silence for several seconds, and then Jö spoke again. "How are you going to take care of and home-school your brother, as well as do work for your company, not to mention making sure you keep up with your own schoolwork?" he asked.

"I managed before," I said, looking away.

"Not very well," Jö commented wryly.

"I was younger before."

"Point."

"Yes.

"But it's still going to be hard. And you know that Mokuba won't be getting the attention that he deserves."

I grit my teeth. 'Point,' I thought, but refused to say it out loud. Jö was silent as well, and finally I was forced to break it. "Fine," I said, "yes, it's going to be hard, but there's no other way, is there?"

"What if you hired somebody to tutor Mokuba, and then you'd have one less thing to worry about?" Jö asked, and I shook my head.

"Last time I tried that, Mokuba's tutor ended up trying to blackmail me with the secret of him having cancer; I can't risk that. I don't want sympathy cards and employees asking me constantly who the next vice president of KaibaCorp is going to be. I just want people to do their jobs and leave me alone."

"Mokuba is VP?"

I looked at him. "You thought it was a joke, didn't you?" I said flatly.

"What? No—well, yeah," he said. "I mean…he's an eleven-year-old kid!"

"Twelve," I corrected. "His birthday was the ninth of July this year. And it's no joke; he handles the PR department, mostly. He does it better that I ever could."

Jö guffawed. Apparently, I had just said something funny.

I sighed. "Anyways," I said, "it's true. Although recently I've been handling PR to lighten Mokuba's load."

"All the more reason for you to hire somebody to look after Mokuba while you're working," Jö said.

"I told you, I can't—" I paused, thinking. "Would you do it?" I asked.

"Do what?" Jö asked, apparently taken aback. "Tutor Mokuba?"

"No. Would you watch him while take care of my stuff? Kind of like what you're doing now," I added, "except you wouldn't need to cook."

"I still can't believe you don't have a cook," Jö mused, and I looked at him. "Well, I mean, it's just that I didn't expect you to be the cooking type," he said hastily, and I rolled my eyes. "But yeah, sure, I'll do it," he said. "When are my hours?"

"Actually…" I said, forming a plan in my mind. The way I saw it, I owed to Jö to get him away from his father. The bruise on his cheek today was testament to that; though I knew that he didn't get knocked around too bad, abuse was abuse, and I didn't like thinking about anyone else having to go through anything close to what I did. "I was hoping that you would move in with me," I finished. "You know, live in the mansion. There's definitely enough room, and that way we wouldn't really need to set up hours that might need to change every second week."

"You just don't want to pay me," Jö said, grinning, and I blinked.

"Do you require payment?" I asked, and he rolled his eyes.

"Seto," he said, "I'm doing this because I'm your friend; learn the definition of a joke, why don't you?"

Frowning, I pondered this. It seemed to me that this was taking a simple (and tentative, at that) friendship a little far, but what did I know about friendship? Almost nothing, that was sure. "Alright," I said, settling back. "Are you coming?"

"When do I start?"

"As soon as you want," I replied promptly. "Tomorrow, if you want; if you need somebody to help you move, I'll tell Isono, and he'll get some people together."

"I can do it—"

"Don't be a prideful idiot," I said. "I know you don't have a vehicle. How are you bring over all your things?"

"Seto, seriously, I don't have all that much. Just some clothes and games and things. I don't think I'll need to bring over my bed or dresser or anything."

I shook my head. "I suppose not," I said.

"Okay," Jö said, then paused. "Umm…I'd better get going if you want me to start moving right away."

"Okay," I said, watching as he stood up and left. "Good bye," I said.

"Bye, Seto," he replied, letting the door fall shut behind him. I sighed and reached for the book beside my hospital bed. Damn Mokuba and Jö and their plot to hide my laptop. I was really going to need to do a lot to catch up on work when I got out of this stupid hospital.

—**Jö POV—**

Mind still reeling a little, I went straight from the hospital to Yuugi's house. I needed to get this out of my system, even if Seto did curse me for it after.

"Hey, Yuugi," I said upon entrance. "Guess what!"

"Jö!" he exclaimed, ignoring my command, "I was just about to call you" (he held up the phone) "Anzu agreed to go out with me this Friday!" he finished, and I grinned.

"That's great, Yuugi!" I said. "Next to that, my news pales in comparison."

"Well what is it?" Yuugi asked.

"You know how I've been babysitting Mokuba while Seto's in the hospital, right?" I said, and Yuugi nodded. "Well," I said, "he's asked me to move in to take care of Mokuba almost full time once he starts getting home-schooled! Can you believe it?"

"Wow, Jö," Yuugi said. "The Kaiba mansion? That thing is huge!"

"I know. And get this: I get my own pick of bedrooms. I'm going to take the biggest one there, I swear. Well, if Seto doesn't already have it, that is," I added, thinking that he must.

"Cool," Yuugi said. "And now you have to help me choose what to wear on Friday."

"Yuugi," I said, "that's four days away."

"So?"

"So…you don't…oh fine," I said, following him up the stairs to his room. "But you're probably going to change your mind anyways."

**to be continued…**

_Sorry it's so short! But I really couldn't think of anything else to put in this chapter, and it's been so long! I am working on chapter twelve, though (I have the outline all done, and it's pretty detailed, so it shouldn't be that hard to write!), and _Harry Potter and the Sennen Items _has been updated to chapter ten, and should get updated again soon. Oh, and a further note: there will be no more review replies to anonymous reviews on my live journal, because I've gone friends only. Thanks for reading, and please remember to review!_


	12. Chapter 12: I Want My Life

**Warnings:  
**Future YAOI (JöXSeto), ANGST, MENTIONS OF UNDERAGE RAPE AND CHILD ABUSE

**Disclaimer:  
**Don't own it; chapter title by _Smile Empty Soul_.

**Summary:  
**When Mokuba Kaiba faints in the middle of school, and a devastating revelation concerning his health comes into view, will Seto be able to deal with the added complication to his already problematical life? And what will happen when Yuugi and the gang find out?

**Author's Notes (A/N's):  
1)** When people are yelling, the words will appear in CAPITAL LETTERS, when people are being sarcastic, it'll show up inside single quotes (apostrophes)  
**2)** "…" People speaking, or a quote  
**3)** '…' Thoughts and/or a voice in someone's head, or written words  
**4) **Memories are in _italics_, as are any 'stressed' words and/or syllables, and Japanese/French/whatever words (not English). If something is 'stressed' in a flashback or something else that's in _italics_, then it will be in plain text, because _italics_ on top of the _italics_ cancels the _italics_ out; now, are we clear?  
**5)** At the end, anything that has a (number) beside it will be translated, anything with a -number- beside it will be explained.  
**6)** A bolded _-o-_ indicates a time change. If needed, the amount of time that passed will be added between two _-o-_.  
**7)** Japanese names and ages

**Shattered Masks, Healed Hearts  
Book One: Opposites Attract  
Chapter Twelve: I Want My Life  
.nachzes black-rider**

—**Seto POV—**

Sandi drove me home a week later, the silence tense and tangible in her Avalanche. She didn't think that I should be going home so soon, especially not after an episode the day before when I'd undergone a small coughing fit after physical therapy for my lung, but I'd been determined to arrive home when I said I would, and the other doctors had agreed that since there hadn't been any blood, I was free to go. Glaring at them had worked well to sway them to that opinion; I didn't care what Sandi thought, I was not going to spend another hour extra in that hospital.

I'd always hated hospitals; they meant pain and bleached white sheets that chafed at sensitive skin, but most of all I hated what they represented from my past. A place to heal, yes, but a place that always sent me right back to the place where I had gotten hurt in the first place. Traitors. Yes, it had been my fault, in part; I'd never confessed to having been raped, and so they couldn't do anything, but I still hated them. I could never hate Sandi, though. She was the only one it seemed that I could trust for so long. I'd entrusted her with so many secrets, and she'd never let one of them slip, which was more than I could say for myself.

Once again, I cursed myself for allowing myself to admit my darkest secrets to Yuugi Mutö. Jö I didn't mind so much—at least not after I'd learned more about his past—but I couldn't bear the thought of my greatest rival having the power to bring me down with one slip of the tongue. I hadn't meant to tell either of them about anything…I had just wanted to get Jönöchi riled up, and then refused to tell either of them anything, but instead I'd managed to get myself angry enough to spill the beans, as it were, and now I was stuck in an unlikely friendship, constantly watching my back in case Yuugi said anything. Though he might mean well, I didn't trust his ability to keep a secret; he was too bubbly. _I_ couldn't keep my own secrets, and I made it my business to push people away.

For some reason, I felt like I could trust Jö, though. Maybe it was because he kept his own secrets so well, or maybe it was just because of the bond forming between us, or perhaps the bond between him and Mokuba, or maybe I just…trusted him. I didn't know.

'I hate being confused,' I thought to myself, and was yanked unceremoniously from my musings when Sandi shut off the engine of the truck and announced that we had reached the mansion.

"Thank you," I said, undoing my seatbelt and preparing to leave.

"Seto…" she said, jangling her keys—a nervous habit, I knew. 'Uh oh,' I thought. She was going to say something controversial, and that was never good. "Are you sure about letting Jönöchi look after Mokuba. I'm sure Ai would be happy to do it, and I would if I could get off work enough…."

"I'm sure, Sandi," I said firmly.

Then she said the one word I was dreading to hear leave her lips: "Why?"

"I don't know," I said. "I feel like I can trust him." I glanced at her out of the corner of my eye, and, to my surprise, she smiled.

"Good," she said, and I stared.

"You just…" I began, at a rare loss for words. "You…you tricked me into saying that, didn't you? You _knew_ already!"

"I admit to nothing," she said, undoing her seatbelt and climbing out of the truck. But her eyes were dancing.

"Where are you going?" I asked, climbing out as well.

"I'm coming with you to meet Jönöchi formally," she said, and I rolled my eyes.

"Who needs parents," I said, "when I have you?" My tone was sarcastic, even scathing, but I knew that she heard the undercurrent of fondness. It was Sandi.

The door opened before I reached out for the handle, revealing Mokuba and a grinning Jö. "WELCOME HOME!" they yelled, and Mokuba launched himself at me in a typical attempt at being a human cannon. I was suddenly reminded of when he was five and had wanted to run away from the orphanage to join the circus. When I was five, I'd wanted to build airplanes. And I'd had my own design, with formulas and calculations and all. I shook my head to rid myself of the memories, wondering why I seemed so sensitive to flashbacks lately, and set Mokuba back on his feet.

"Careful, _Otöto-chan_," I said. "You're supposed to be taking it easy, remember?" He made a face, but nodded. I breathed a sigh of relief, and pulled him into another hug. "Good," I said, being careful not to ruffle his no-longer-there hair, and stood again. "Hello, Jö," I said, nodding to him. He grinned.

"Do I get a hug, too?" he needled, laughing at the look on my face. "Relax, Seto," he said. "Welcome back." He turned to Sandi. "Hello, _Isha_-Richards. How are you?"

I raised an eyebrow. Where had the old, uncouth Jö gone? Apparently, Sandi didn't like this version of Jö either, because she glared at him and told him exactly where he could stick the title _isha_. I grinned, and made a show of covering Mokuba's ears. Sandi scoffed at me. "Seto, you curse around him all the time," she said.

"That's not the point," I said, entering the house after her and closing the door. "Now, which room are you in, Jö, so I know where to find you?"

"The fifth one on the right on the second floor," he replied, and I frowned.

"From the left or right staircase?" I asked, feeling an odd sense of foreboding.

"Left."

Oh, shit. Gozaboro's room. Apparently, my expression had revealed something, because Jö was looking at me oddly. I cleared my throat to cover it up, and said something about it being the biggest room in the house. Jö nodded slowly, but the look on his face told me that he didn't buy that story one bit. He looked like he wanted to push the issue, but pursed his lips and didn't; relieved, I shook myself out of a slough of memories, and made a quick excuse of having to catch up on work—which, I realized, climbing the staircase towards my own room (at the opposite end of the mansion from Gozaboro's-now-Jö's), was true.

I spent most of the remainder of the day in my room, losing myself in e-mails and code for new game designs.

—**Sandi POV—**

I waited until Seto left the room, giving him extra time to start climbing the stairs, before I turned to Jönöchi. "You have to choose another room," I whispered.

"Why?" he asked.

I glanced at Mokuba, then looked back at Jönöchi, meeting his eyes. "That's Gozaboro's old room," I said, giving him a meaningful look. Jönöchi's eyes widened, shock and disgust showing on his face, and he nodded.

"I'll move," he said. I breathed a sigh of relief.

"It was nice meeting you," I said, bowing briefly.

"And you," Jönöchi said, automatically, I could tell. I crouched down so that I was on-level with Mokuba, and looked him in the eye.

"You take it easy," I said, "I mean it; Ai does, too." I kissed him quickly on the cheek and stood again, pulling out my car keys and heading towards the door.

"Bye, Sandi," Mokuba called, and I nodded, letting myself out.

—**Jö POV—**

Oh, God. I'd been living in that rotten pedophile's room for a week, and hadn't even known. Isn't one supposed to be able to smell evil? Disgusted, I glanced down towards Mokuba. Sandi hadn't said right out why I should move, really…did that mean that Mokuba didn't know about what had gone on between his brother and his adoptive father? I shook my head. No, I didn't believe that; Mokuba was a smart kid. Not as smart as his brother, but still smart. He would at least have some idea; I didn't miss the fact that he never mentioned his adoptive father unless asked a direct question about him, and even then he was usually evasive.

Shaking myself out of my stupor, I turned to look at Mokuba, forcing a grin. "Hey, kid," I said, "want to help me move?"

He looked at me, frowning. "Why?" he asked.

I shrugged. "Because I promised Sandi I would," I said. Mokuba still looked suspicious, but a little bit less so.

"Alright…" he said slowly, "but I promised Sandi I wouldn't do anything strenuous."

I rolled my eyes. "Lifting a pair of jeans and carrying them across the hall is hardly strenuous," I said. Mokuba grinned, and I silently cheered myself on for having successfully evaded his questioning. It was hard to lie to Mokuba; it was probably why Seto didn't talk about the past at all around him, so as to avoid questions about it.

I wondered, briefly, why he would avoid talking about friendship or any other kind of bond. What other secrets could possibly hide behind that emotionless façade?

**-o-**

A short while later, Mokuba and I had finished moving all my clothes and games into a room closer to Seto's, and I could breathe again. "Thanks, Mokuba," I said, hanging up my last pair of jeans and sitting down next to him. He shrugged.

"I wasn't hard," he said.

"No, but I still would have gotten lost about twelve times without you helping me," I said, and he laughed.

"It took me about two months before I could find my way around without getting lost," Mokuba said, grinning. "Seto had the layout of the house memorized within a half hour of our arrival."

"Typical Seto," I said, exaggerating the rolling motion of my eyes. Mokuba laughed again, and I grinned. "But enough about my poor sense of direction," I said. "How about we play a game?" I reached under my new bed, pulling out my box of games.

"Sure," Mokuba said, moving closer, and I pulled the lid off with a flourish, revealing my Duel Monsters deck, a deck of plain playing cards, and a foldable chess set.

"Okay then," I said, "which do you want to play?"

Mokuba peered interestedly into the box, then pointed at the deck of playing cards. "I've never played cards properly," he said. I looked at him curiously.

"Properly?" I asked.

"When Seto and I were little—when we were still in the orphanage, I mean—Duel Monsters cards were too expensive, so all we had were decks of cards like this," Mokuba said, pointing at the deck. "Seto taught me to play Duel Monsters using regular cards."

I frowned, confused, and even more curious than I had been before. "How?" I asked.

"The four suites made up four different types of monsters," Mokuba explained. "Diamonds were Light monsters, for example. The number on the card was the number of the monster's attack points, multiplied by one hundred. Aces, kings, queens and jacks were magic cards used to increase your monster's attack or defence points, or decrease the other person's monster's attack or defence points, depending on which suit they were. Hearts and diamonds increased or lowered defence points, and spades and clubs worked for attack points. The two jokers were trap cards. It wasn't exactly the same, but it worked."

"And he thought this up when he was nine?" I asked. Mokuba nodded.

"All little kids have big imaginations," he said. "Seto was just smarter than most, so he was able to apply his earlier on."

Thinking about it, I nodded. It made sense. "Still," I said, "it boggles the mind. But cards it is, then. What do you want to play?"

"I don't know," Mokuba mused. "What do you want to play?"

"I dunno, what do you want to play?" I teased, grinning, and Mokuba gave me a slightly annoyed look; I laughed, and he rolled his eyes, joining in.

"No, seriously," he said finally, "what do you want to play? The only game I know it Go Fish, and from what I hear, it's boring as all hell."

"No Go Fish, then," I said, thinking. "What about Virtual War?" I asked after a bit of thinking.

"What's that?"

"Here, I'll show you," I said, laying the cards out—four in a line in front of each of us, face down; four face up on top of them, and three for each of our hands. Then I put the rest of the deck face-down in the middle, and picked up my hand. "Alright," I said, "First, the rules: If you want to switch a card in your hand with one of the four face-up ones in front of you, go ahead; you're not allowed to play those ones until after the rest of the deck in the middle is gone. Now, basically what the game does is I set down a card, say, a three, and you can play either a two, another three, or a four. If you have more that one suit of a card, you can play all of them, or just one of them. If all four suits of one card are played on top of one another, then the pile in the middle gets 'deleted'; this happens if you play a ten, too, which you can play on top of anything. You can also play a two on anything. The goal of the game is to get rid of all your cards first; every time you play a card from your hand, you have to draw another from the deck in the centre, until it's gone. Once you finish your last hand, you can start using your face-up cards, and once those are gone, your face-down cards—you're not allowed to look at those until you play them, so it's a bit like a gamble. Any time you're unable to make a move, you have to pick up the face-up pile in the centre, which is why tens are so valuable." I cleared my throat. "So, any questions?" Mokuba shook his head, and I nodded. "Okay," I said, "I'll go first. I play the seven of hearts." I placed the card face-up in the centre, beside the rest of the deck, drew a new card, and sat back. "Now you go," I said.

"I play…the eight of diamonds," Mokuba said, pulling another card off the top of the deck in the centre.

"Nine of spades."

"Nine of hearts and the nine of clubs."

"Eight of spades."

"Two of hearts."

"Ace of spades…."

**-o-**

Two hours and three games later, I heard a knock on the door. "Come in," I said absently, re-shuffling the deck and preparing to deal again.

"I just came to tell you supper's ready," Seto said, poking his head through the door and blinking at Mokuba and I. "What are you playing?"

"Virtual War," I said. Seto frowned at the name.

"Never heard of it," he said, but I suspected that that wasn't what had made him glare at the cards.

"I made it up," I said. He nodded, but his expression remained the same. "What's for supper?" I asked, trying to change the subject to relieve the tension in the air.

"It's really fun, _Nii-sama_," Mokuba blurted at the same time.

Seto nodded, looking noncommittal. "_Souvlaki_," he said. I blinked.

"What?" I said blankly, thinking that it was some kind of curse word.

"It's Slavic," Mokuba explained. "Ukrainian, Russian, you know," he said at my clueless expression.

"Oh. I see," I said. "…What does it mean?"

"It's meat," Seto said. "Marinated grilled chicken. Usually served with pita bread."

I brightened. "Oh! It's for dinner!" I said, relieved to finally understand.

"Yes." Seto's voice was flat as he answered, but his lips were twitching strangely, as though he was trying to hold back laughter.

"…Why?" I asked.

"Why what, mutt?"

I glared. "Enough with that," I growled; it seemed that every time I said something stupid, he called me that. Or puppy, which was worse. "Why are you cooking Slavic food, instead of Japanese?" I said.

"Because I know how, and because I like to, and because it's good," Seto said shortly, then left. I blinked. Apparently, I had touched a nerve; which nerve, and how, I didn't know. But I did seem to be touching a lot of them, lately.

Taking pity on my blank look, Mokuba explained it to me as he led me down the hall. "Our father, our real father, was half Ukrainian and half Russian," he said.

"Oh," I said, brightening. "Why didn't Seto just say that?"

Mokuba gave me an odd look, as though I should know why. "He doesn't like talking about the past," he said.

Right.

Oops. …Well, I'd successfully stepped on about ten billion emotional landmines since I'd seen Seto in the hospital nearly two months ago. Who knew there would be so many?

Entering the dining room, I sniffed the air cautiously, surprised to find that this _souvlaki _thing smelled delicious; my stomach rumbled loudly, and Seto, sitting at the table, raised an eyebrow. Grinning, I sat down. "Sorry," I said, "I'm starving." Peering interestedly at the bowl of dark drown meat at the centre of the table, I sniffed again. Still delicious.

"Help yourself," Seto said, taking two round pieces of what looked like pizza crusts from another bowl and handing one to Mokuba and one to himself. I grabbed one too, and watched curiously as Seto spooned some of the meat onto Mokuba's plate, then his own. I frowned when I saw the meagre amount that he served himself, but didn't comment. I'd stepped on enough landmines for one day. Grabbing the spoon, I served myself, then copied what Seto and Mokuba were doing: tear off a piece of the pizza thing, dip it in the meat, and then eat. "Mm," I said, voice muffled, "this is good."

Mokuba stared; Seto just nodded and didn't look at me, instead carefully tearing a piece of pizza bread (I thought that was what Seto called it, anyways) off of the whole.

Confused, I frowned, and swallowed. "What?" I asked.

Mokuba shook his head, grinning, and glancing at Seto out of the corner of my eye, I could see that his lips were twitching again.

"Okay, really, guys, what?" I repeated.

"The look on your face…!" Mokuba said, beginning to laugh. "It was like you were Seto when we first arrived at the mansion!" I blushed, grinning a little, but Mokuba's next words knocked it right off my face. "It's good there's no Gozaboro here to make you stop being a kid—" he stopped in the middle of the sentence, and silence settled over the table like a cloak. I barely had time to think that I had been right in thinking that Mokuba knew more than Seto thought he did, and then, with a _screech_ that would have been quiet, but now seemed infinitely loud, Seto slid his chair back. Mokuba and I both winced.

"I'm going up to my room to work," Seto said, face and voice both expressionless. "You guys finish up with supper; Mokuba, don't forget to take your pill."

The quiet _snick_ of the door closing sounded like a gunshot in the silence. Then the tension dissolved, and Mokuba started to sniff, his shoulders shaking.

"Mokuba…come on," I said, feeling lost, "don't cry; Seto wasn't trying to be mean—"

"I'm so stupid!" Mokuba cried, kneading his forehead with the heel of his hand as though he was trying to fuse the two. "I should have known not to mention…not to mention _him_."

"Mokuba," I said softly, "you're not stupid; you made a mistake. I wouldn't even call it a mistake—a slip of the tongue, that's all. It's not your fault that Seto's so sensitive about…your adoptive father."

"Yes it is!" Mokuba said. "I know that he was always sacrificing himself to save me; I'm not an idiot! Do you know how many people asked to adopt him at the orphanage? He wouldn't go! Because they wouldn't take me as well. It's not fair! He could have had such a good life, if it wasn't for me! And now all this is my fault, too! All the stress he's going through, it's my fault! If I didn't have leukemia…if I hadn't relapsed…."

And suddenly I understood. Just as surely as Seto wore a mask of ice, Mokuba wore a mask of happiness; he pretended to be cheerful and normal as possible, and he feigned ignorance about the years with Gozaboro, to protect his brother. If Seto had given his innocence to save Mokuba's, then Mokuba had just as surely traded his in for his brother. And now they'd both lost.

"Mokuba," I said quietly, "listen to me: it's not your fault. What Seto's done…it's been his choice all along. You have no control over the cancer; you have no control over whether you exist or not. If you weren't here, Seto wouldn't have made it this far. He would have died at nine."

Mokuba froze. "How do you know about that?" he asked.

"Seto told me—"

"Seto never would have told anyone about that!" Mokuba said, standing up suddenly.

"He didn't mean to," I said hurriedly. "It was at the hospital when you fell in Gym—the Tokyo hospital, not the Kyoto one—and I…I'm still not sure how it happened…I got him mad, and I tricked him into telling Yuugi and I about everything. Ask Sandi; she was there."

Weakly, Mokuba lowered himself into his chair again. His head bowed, and his shoulders shook; he was crying again.

"Mokuba…" I began.

"He told you _everything_?" he asked, voice choked.

"Everything," I said. Mokuba sniffled again, and I stood up, walking around the table to hug him. "It's okay, Mokuba," I whispered. "It's alright…."

**-o-**

An hour later, having tucked an exhausted Mokuba into bed and given him his pill, as well as cleaned up after dinner, I knocked on Seto's bedroom door.

"Seto, it's Jö," I said when my knock was met with silence.

"Go away," came the muffled response.

I let myself in, closing the door behind me. Immediately, Seto was on his feet and glaring at me.

"I said 'go away'," he snarled.

"I'm not going," I said stubbornly, crossing my arms over my chest. "Do you just realize what you did?"

"Why did you move?"

"What? Seto, what does that have to do with anything?"

"Just answer the damn question."

"Fine." I looked away, leaning against the door; it was hard to lie to Seto, too, but I had to. "I didn't like the room after all, okay?"

"Liar," Seto bit off, turning away and looking out the window.

"Alright!" I yelled. "I moved because Sandi told me whose room it used to be!"

"Just say his name, why don't you?" Seto shouted, whipping around again.

"No!"

"Why not, damn it?" he yelled.

"Because every time somebody does, you go into autopilot mode and push them away!" I yelled back.

"Say his _name_, God damn it!"

"GOZABORO!" I roared, arms flying out from my sides; one of my knuckles split open on the doorknob, but my mind didn't register the pain.

Silence.

"…Seto?" I asked.

His shoulders shook, and as I walked over to him, I realized that he couldn't be taller than 5'9" without his boots on.

"Seto," I said again, "are you alright?"

"Is Mokuba okay?" he asked.

I paused. "He will be," I said slowly. "But he's hurt pretty bad right now. He's in bed." I didn't say why Mokuba was hurt; that was for him to tell. But I could try to hurry the process along. "You need to tell him about what Gozaboro did you, Seto."

Sighing, Seto turned to look out the window again. "Why do I think I can trust you?" he whispered.

I didn't say anything; I didn't think the question was directed towards me anyways. Instead, I silently slipped from the room, ignoring the urge to wrap my arms around the other hold him as he cried.

—**Seto POV—**

It was nearly midnight before I went into Mokuba's room to say goodnight, but he was still awake. "Hey," I said, touching his shoulder, which immediately went tense.

"Don't," he whimpered.

"Mokuba…." I sighed as I sat down on the bed next to him. "I'm sorry."

Silence. Then: "Why?" he whispered.

"What?"

"Why are you sorry?" he said. "I said it—"

"And I shouldn't have reacted the way I did," I said. I felt him relax a little, and sighed again, remembering what Jö had said. "I just…Gozaboro…he hurt me," I said, deliberately being vague.

"I know," Mokuba whispered.

"What?" I said sharply. Had Jö told him? If he had, so help me, newly-forged friendship or not, I would rip him limb from limb…!

"I've always known," Mokuba said, voice muffled. "I could hear you screaming when he'd beat you at night."

I went cold. This was the part I'd been dreading…telling him about what else had gone on.

"…He wasn't beating me at night, Mokuba," I said, twining my fingers together nervously.

Mokuba sat up. "Yes he was," he said. "I could hear you screaming at him to stop!"

"Yes."

"Then how can you say he wasn't beating you? You've basically admitted that he was!"

"He wasn't beating me, Mokuba"—he opened his mouth to interrupt, but I held up a finger to silence him—"he was…" I swallowed. I could say this. "He was ra—he was beating me." I couldn't say it. I was going to throw up. I covered my mouth with a hand, breathing deeply through my nose, eyes shut tightly.

"I thought you said—"

"I know what I said!" I gasped, putting my hand over my eyes instead. I would not let my brother see me cry. "I can't do it," I whispered.

"_Nii-sama_…."

I forced myself to lower my hand to my side again. I _had_ to do it. "He wasn't beating me," I said again, and then, without pausing, because I knew that if I did, I wouldn't finish, I went on, "he was raping me."

The silence seemed to spiral on for days before Mokuba's stifled sob finally broke it. "Mokuba," I said, reaching for him, "Mokuba, shh, it's okay…."

"How can you say that?" he demanded. "It's not okay!"

"No, it's not, but it's not going to change, either," I said, pulling him into a hug. "Mokuba, he's gone; he disappeared years ago."

"You should file a lawsuit."

"Against what, a dead man?" I asked. "Myself?"

Mokuba pursed his lips and looked away. 'Oh, no,' I thought desperately. 'Please no.' Too late.

"There were others though, weren't there?" he asked. "Most of them are still alive."

"Mokuba, that would kill KaibaCorp if the public knew that its CEO was a child whore."

"You were not a whore! You were raped! _Non-con-sensual_! " Mokuba shot back.

"It would still hit us bad in the PR department, and you know it," I said. "I just…I can't, alright Mokuba? Even if I did know their names, which I didn't, and still don't—"

"Knowing Gozaboro, he probably kept a transaction," Mokuba muttered.

"Well it was for business," I said.

"He let his business partners fuck you?"

"Mokuba!"

"What? That's what they did!"

I couldn't deny that. I looked away, lips pursed. "Yes," I said finally, "he did. Several in one night, on many an occasion; they paid for it handsomely, as well, from what I gathered. Apparently I was the 'most expensive whore in Tokyo'." I expected revulsion, but I didn't expect Mokuba to hug me fiercely, burying his face into my chest. "Mokuba?" I said, stroking his nearly-bald head; he'd gotten it cut in a buzz cut almost a month ago to stop it from falling out so quickly this time.

"I'm sorry," he mumbled into my chest.

"For what?" I stroked his hair again. "None of it was your fault."

"But if it wasn't for me, you wouldn't have even been adopted by Gozaboro!"

"Mokuba, you saved me from being adopted by countless families who wanted my only for my IQ score. I should be thanking you."

"But you could have fought back if you hadn't been scared that they'd go after me, instead!"

"Mokuba, look at me." I tilted his chin up with two fingers, meeting his eyes. "I would not have been alive to fight back."

Mokuba sniffed and hugged me harder. "I'm scared," he said.

"Of what?" I asked.

"I don't want to die," he gulped, beginning to shake in my arms.

"Nobody's going to die, Mokuba," I said firmly, warding off the panic in my own mind. "Because you know what Shukumeis are?" I said, using our original last name.

Mokuba sniffed hard, wiping his nose on his pyjama sleeve. I made a face and yanked a Kleenex out of the box on the end table, handing it to him.

"Blow," I commanded.

"What are we?" he asked, obeying.

"Survivors," I said, hugging my snotty little brother. "We're survivors."

**to be continued…**

_So this one was a bit longer; it didn't turn out how I expected it to, but I like it like this! And I'm on a roll, because I've started work on chapter thirteen now, too! Hope to have it completed soon! (crosses fingers)_


	13. Chapter 13: Quote

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EDIT: In the previous chapter, instead of "he couldn't be more than 5'9" without his boots on", it should read "he couldn't be more than 5'11"".

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IMPORTANT AUTHOR'S NOTE: If you want to read the full version of this chapter (rated R, but I didn't want to take any chances with FF.N), please go to (the link to my account there is in my biography, under the heading "DIRECTORY", and then "fanfiction (all)").

Warnings:  
Future YAOI (JöXSeto), ANGST, UNDERAGE RAPE AND CHILD ABUSE

Disclaimer:  
Don't own it; chapter title by _Evans Blue_.

Summary:  
When Mokuba Kaiba faints in the middle of school, and a devastating revelation concerning his health comes into view, will Seto be able to deal with the added complication to his already problematical life? And what will happen when Yuugi and the gang find out?

Author's Notes (A/N's):  
1) When people are yelling, the words will appear in CAPITAL LETTERS, when people are being sarcastic, it'll show up inside single quotes (apostrophes)  
**2)** "…" People speaking, or a quote  
**3)** '…' Thoughts and/or a voice in someone's head, or written words  
**4) **Memories are in _italics_, as are any 'stressed' words and/or syllables, and Japanese/French/whatever words (not English). If something is 'stressed' in a flashback or something else that's in _italics_, then it will be in plain text, because _italics_ on top of the _italics_ cancels the _italics_ out; now, are we clear?  
**5)** At the end, anything that has a (number) beside it will be translated, anything with a -number- beside it will be explained.  
**6)** A bolded _-o-_ indicates a time change. If needed, the amount of time that passed will be added between two _-o-_.  
**7)** Japanese names and ages

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Shattered Masks, Healed Hearts  
Book One: Opposites Attract  
Chapter Thirteen: Quote  
.nachzes black-rider

—Seto POV—

It is cold. Unnaturally cold, I know instinctively; it's only late October and it is snowing already. I shiver, clutching my pyjama top tighter around my skinny eleven-year-old torso with one hand, and try to huddle deeper under covers that freeze and turn my bare feet into blocks of ice. Suddenly, the door to my room clicks shut, and I shoot upright, blue eyes wide and frightened in the dark. "W-who's there?" I ask, voice wavering.

There is a dark chuckle, and I feel fear freeze me in place far more effectively than the chill of the room. I feel the mattress shift under me, and yelp, trying to get away as an arm snakes around my waist and pulls me tight up against another body, the hand belonging to the arm covering my mouth to muffle my scream. I struggle, trying to bite the hand, my blunt, boyish nails scrabbling at both bed sheets and the other's skin, my breathing becoming harsh and erratic; I try to scream, but the hand covering my mouth prevents any sound from escaping; I stop, suddenly unable to move, when I hear the voice whisper in my ear:

"If you don't stop now, Seto, I'll go to your little brother, instead."

I whimper against the hand covering my mouth, feeling tears bead in my eyes, my breathing speeding up again as I recognize my adoptive father's voice.

"Will you cooperate?" Gozaboro hisses, and I nod, tears escaping the boundaries of my eyelids to run down my cheeks as he releases me.

"Father, what—"

"Shut up, boy!" Gozaboro hisses, shoving me down onto the bed, my chest pressing up against the mattress. I cringe, then let out a gasp of surprise as I feel rope twine around my ankle.

"Father, stop, I don't—"

"I thought I told you to shut up!" Gozaboro lashes out, slapping me. I cry out in pain, and kick my free leg as I felt rope wrap around it, the rough material already beginning to chafe at my bare ankles.

"Father, please—!" But I am cut off as Gozaboro stuffs a wad of cloth in my mouth and ties it in place: a gag. I thrash, panicking, as I feel the other's hand close around my wrists, more rope wrapping around them and the headboard, holding me in place.

'No no no!' I think, trying to get away as hasty hands tug at my pyjama bottoms, shoving the material down to my bound ankles, and a weight settles on top of me. 'Father, don't, please!' The words ring in my mind, but the gag stifles them. I feel like I'm choking, my throat constricted, and I buck, trying to throw my stepfather off.

"Do you really want me to go to that baby brother of yours?"

Gozaboro's dangerous voice in my ear; Gozaboro's hands on my hips, holding them down; Gozaboro's weight atop me…I sob, shaking my head, then scream in sudden pain as he thrusts. 'Please stop!' I think, struggling against his hold, crying.

"I—said—stop—!" he pants, moving faster on top of me. I feel tears streaming down my cheeks; my throat is raw from stifled screams, and I sob as I feel something hot flood me, burning, as Gozaboro collapses on top of me, grunting in release. "You're a good fuck, boy," he says, withdrawing and undoing my bonds. Black eyes stare into my own blue ones, a cruel smile alighting on his lips, and I cringe, trying to tug my wrists away from the hands holding them.

"Stop…" I whisper, but it is hoarse and pitiful, and I wince as Gozaboro laughs, a hand gripping my chin to force me to look back into those endless black eyes…like chasms, like the pits in Hell.

"A good fuck," Gozaboro says again, that wicked smile twisting his lips. He leans over, and whispers, in my ear: "A good whore."

I screamed.

Hands grabbing at my shoulders, shaking me. A voice, shouting my name. I screamed louder and wrenched away; too late I realised that I had been close to the edge of the bed already. The _thud!_ as I hit the carpet knocked the wind out of me, my vision blurring to near black and then focussing again…focussing on Mokuba, who was cupping a hand over his mouth, tears pouring down his cheeks, his shoulders shaking with ragged sobs. And Jö, standing in the doorway, face plastered with a look of shock.

"Mo…kuba," I gasped. My tailbone and spine protested my sitting up—loudly—and my eyes watered, not that it would be noticeable with the tears still drying on my cheeks. 'Damn it', I thought, and swiped at the gluey residue, reaching for Mokuba with the other hand, ignoring Jö's presence; that could be dealt with later. "_Otöto-chan_, what's wrong?" I pulled his quivering form into my lap, and his hands latched onto my shirt.

"You…how long…how many times…how many nights staying up—until—f-four in the morning just—so—that you wouldn't…wouldn't have to dream about _it_?"

I looked away. "I didn't really keep track, Mokuba," I said. He sobbed again, burying his head against my chest, fingers curling around the bunched-up fabric in his grip.

"Why, _'Nii-sama_?" he choked. I swallowed, forcing saliva past the constriction of my throat.

"I don't know."

I glanced up at Jö, who was still standing in the doorway, searching for something, anything, to look at, aside from Mokuba's distraught face. "_Nani_?" I asked. "What do you want?"

He shook himself out of his stupor and looked at me. I flinched away from the pity and, worst of all, _understanding_ in those hazel eyes.

"I want you to stop hiding."

I opened my mouth to make a retort, but before I could come up with something to say, never mind say it, Jö turned and left; I closed my mouth again, and settled for glaring briefly at the spot where he had stood. A sniffle from Mokuba drew my gaze back to him again, and this time he looked away.

"Mokuba?" I asked, concerned.

"I shouldn't have asked," he mumbled. "The nightmare wouldn't have come if I hadn't asked…."

"Mokuba, no! The nightmares…they're not…I would have had one anyways." I looked away. "Why do you think I never sleep in the same room as you? You know I keep the door to my bedroom locked at night." I paused. "And it's getting closer to my birthday," I said, knowing that Mokuba would probably understand the allusion, seeing as he had already proven himself to be more observant than I perhaps would have liked.

As I suspected, Mokuba winced and avoided my eyes again. I sighed, hugging him tightly to me. "It's in the past, Mokuba. There's nothing we can do about it now."

"It still hurts," he said.

"I know, Mokuba. …I know."

****

-o-

Finally, I managed to get Mokuba calmed down enough so that I could leave to go across the hall to my office—after being away from work for so long, I really needed to get something done.

But no matter how hard I tried to concentrate on coding and reading e-mails from colleagues and comparing profit margins, I couldn't seem to _do_ anything. Unbidden, Jö's words kept popping up in my mind: _I want you to stop hiding_. Like it was possible. Like he had hope for me. Like he wanted to know me better. But…why? Were these more of the intricate rules of "friendship" that I hadn't learnt? Lost in thought, I continued to skim through an e-mail from the employee I'd put in charge of keeping inside tabs on Industrial Illusions, without taking in a word. Ten minutes later I gave up, closing the web browser and shutting my laptop, pressing cold fingers to my temples and thinking….

Why would Jö care if I hid? It wasn't hurting anybody else, was it…? On the contrary, I had done all I could to prevent my past from harming others. So, if it wasn't for the sake of his pain, or others' pain, what was it? Was he…did he think it hurt me?

It did, but that was beside the point. _Why_ would he care if it hurt me? He couldn't know that—I kept my pain closely hidden.

Did he perhaps want to know that I was hurting?

No…Jö wasn't the type to relish in my pain. Especially not now that we were friends. Was he perhaps playing me? But no, I didn't believe that anymore; not even for a minute.

What was it then? Why did he care if I hid or not?

I shook my head and sighed, leaning back in my chair and looking at the ceiling. And suddenly, I needed to be somewhere (anywhere) but in my office. I couldn't _think_. My brain was too cluttered with logistics and carefully arrived-to formulae and structured designs when I was in my office. I would never be able to understand what Jö wanted or why he wanted it if I tried to puzzle it out in here. Jö didn't fit in a place where everything had its own label—Jö was an unknown, and no amount of logic on my part could figure him out. Frustrating at times, yes, but for some odd reason…it was satisfying, as well. I had found, lately, that I _liked_ the mutt's unpredictability, his brashness. Somehow, instead of annoying me to know end like it always had before, I'd grown _fond_ of Jönöchi's uncouth ways.

I pondered this as I walked slowly through the gardens behind the mansion, hands in my pockets and a slight frown on my face. Somehow, over the course of a little over a month and a half, Jö had grown on me. I couldn't find what about me had changed to allow that…I couldn't find what about _him_ had changed to allow that—or, rather, I couldn't find _when_ these changes had taken place. There was no exact moment in time when I had decided to let Jönöchi Katsuya into my life. Unless, of course, it had been that time in the hospital after he had divulged his past to a Kaiba Seto whom he presumed had been sound asleep. But normally, that wouldn't have affected me as much as it had…normally, had I been "awake", I would have laughed at him, thrown his stories in his face, trying to save my own and hide my hurt.

__

I want you to stop hiding.

Again, those words. Those same damned words. _Stop hiding, Seto_. _Just stop_.

"It's not that easy!" I yelled back, startling a bird from its perch and sending it flapping frantically away, presumably to find a spot deeper into the woods. I blinked. When had I reached the woods?

__

Hiding.

I sighed, and shook my head. I needed air. It was too crowded, too stuffy, with all this air pushing down on me. So much pressure…. I grabbed onto a branch on the tree the bird had been resting on, and pulled myself up, feeling the tension of my muscles as they contracted. Miraculously my head felt clearer, as I inhaled once more, having instinctively exhaled while climbing up onto the branch, like when doing chin-ups at the dojo. As if all it took to banish unwelcome thoughts and puzzles from my mind was a small bit of exercise. I shook my head and glanced up at the canopy of branches above me, feeling a tugging in my chest, an urge to climb higher. I stood carefully, being sure to keep my balance, and reached for the next branch up.

I had been sitting in the tree for what seemed like only minutes, but what was probably hours, when I heard Jö's voice calling my name. I shrugged lethargically from my thoughtful daze, peering down through the tangle of leaves now below me. "Seto?" Jö said again, closer this time, and I began to lower myself back down branch-to-branch, watching the ground below for the familiar head of tousled blond hair.

"Seto?"

I dropped to the ground from three branches up, unable to resist showing off a little, and grinned at the startled look on Jö's face.

"How long have you been up there?" he accused. I blinked.

"I don't know," I answered honestly. He frowned sceptically at me.

"What were you doing up in a tree? Seto Kaiba climbs trees now?"

"It's not very hard to do," I said. "It's like doing chin-ups, but it's rougher on the hands. And requires more balance." Paused. "And, in answer to your first question, I was thinking. About what you said earlier," I clarified.

"What was that?"

"You said you wanted me to stop hiding," I said. "And I've decided." Jö stared blankly at me. "I'm not going to hide anymore. So I'm thinking I'm going to be a little less silent than usual."

Jö grinned. "I've noticed that your dinner table could use some conversation," he said.

I smiled hesitantly as he laughed at his own joke.

"So that's it?" I asked, a little off-balance now that he had simply accepted my monumental admission without question. "No Hallelujah chorus? No gruelling interview about what made me change my mind? Nothing?"

Jö cocked his head. "Why would I do that?" he asked. "…Did you want me to badger you about it?"

Now I was definitely confused. "Well…I would have thought that you would wonder why I had suddenly reversed my way of doing things. If not out of doubt of my sincerity, then at least out of that insatiable curiosity that you have."

A shrug was my succinct answer. "I'm not going to look a gift horse in the mouth," Jö said. "Besides, it's just not something friends do—you don't demand to know why they had a sudden change of heart. You're just glad that they did."

I shook my head wordlessly. This friendship business was fast becoming far more complicated than I had originally bargained for. All I had wanted was to be left alone…. And yet, if I could, I wouldn't change what had happened. How strange. Normally, I did all that was within my power (and that was a lot) to avoid unnecessary complications in my life; normally, I would have said immediately that I would undo all that that simple tired acceptance had done. Frowning, I realised that Jö had started off toward the mansion, and was now looking back at me, a confused expression on his face. I sighed, and started after him, my longer legs closing the distance between us after a few short minutes. I had had enough internal monologue for today, I thought, making up my mind to let the puzzle of friendship rest for the time being before I decided to try to tackle it again for the umpteenth time. Meanwhile, I would have enough to focus on, with my new goal of not-hiding. In my mind, I groaned.

****

to be continued…

At long last, an update! (I know, I know, it's about damn time. And I know the chapter's short, but…it's an update, right? You take what you can get. P Chapter 14 will be up soon, as it was originally just the second part of this chapter, but I decided to make it a separate one. It's about half to a third of the way done as of today, I think.)


	14. Chapter 14: My Thirteen Year Old Self

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Warnings:  
Future YAOI (JöXSeto), ANGST, UNDERAGE RAPE AND CHILD ABUSE

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Disclaimer:  
Don't own it; chapter title by _P!nk_.

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Summary:  
When Mokuba Kaiba faints in the middle of school, and a devastating revelation concerning his health comes into view, will Seto be able to deal with the added complication to his already problematical life? And what will happen when Yuugi and the gang find out?

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Author's Notes (A/N's):  
1) When people are yelling, the words will appear in CAPITAL LETTERS, when people are being sarcastic, it'll show up inside single quotes (apostrophes)  
**2)** "…" People speaking, or a quote  
**3)** '…' Thoughts and/or a voice in someone's head, or written words  
**4) **Memories are in _italics_, as are any 'stressed' words and/or syllables, and Japanese/French/whatever words (not English). If something is 'stressed' in a flashback or something else that's in _italics_, then it will be in plain text, because _italics_ on top of the _italics_ cancels the _italics_ out; now, are we clear?  
**5)** At the end, anything that has a (number) beside it will be translated, anything with a -number- beside it will be explained.  
**6)** A bolded _-o-_ indicates a time change. If needed, the amount of time that passed will be added between two _-o-_.  
**7)** Japanese names and ages

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Shattered Masks, Healed Hearts  
Book One: Opposites Attract  
Chapter Fourteen: Conversations With My 13-Year-Old Self  
.nachzes black-rider

—Jö POV—

I had woken up abruptly at a little after 6:30, jolted awake by the screams echoing from across the hallway—from Mokuba's room. Heart in my throat, I dashed towards the source, the door slamming against the wall, probably gouging a hold in the no-doubt expensive paint job. But I didn't notice: my attention was fixed on the person twisting, writhing, screaming, on the bed. It took my mind a second to catch up with my eyes, to comprehend that that person was Seto, and that Mokuba was attempting to grab a hold of him….

__

"No! Stop, please!"

I cringed, my hand tightening on the doorframe to steady myself, nausea washing over me. I tried to open my mouth, to warn Mokuba not to try to touch Seto, but the words wouldn't come out as I continued to stare in horror at the brunet. Mokuba finally managed to seize one of Seto's shoulders, and the elder yanked away, screaming again, and fell from the edge of the bed, hitting the floor with a solid _whump_. His panicked eyes went blank, then slowly re-focussed until they snapped to attention and regarded Mokuba, who was sobbing nearly as hard as his brother had been.

"Mo…kuba. _Otöto-chan_, what's wrong?" Seto asked, eyes flicking to me briefly before he reached out for his younger brother, pulling the shaken Mokuba into his arms.

"You…how long…how many times…how many nights staying up—until—f-four in the morning just—so—that you wouldn't…wouldn't have to dream about _it_?" Mokuba choked, and Seto looked away, a look of distress on his face.

"I didn't really keep track, Mokuba."

Mokuba's sobs escalated again, and Seto hushed him, arms holding him tightly as Mokuba gripped his shirt tightly. "Why, _'Nii-sama_?"

Seto swallowed. "I don't know." He glanced up at me. "_Nani_?" he snapped, "What do you want?"

I snapped out of my horrified trance and stared back at him, unabashed. I was sure that pity and perhaps something else coloured my features, for his twisted in dislike, his mouth opening wordlessly when I spoke.

"I want you to stop hiding," I said, making and effort to keep my voice calm. And I turned and left, shutting the door behind me, falling back against it as soon as I did and cupping a hand to my mouth. I could hear muted murmurs from behind the door still, and I shut my eyes as tightly as I could, willing the image of Seto screaming and twisting in seeming agony on the bed from my mind. 'Oh, God,' I thought. 'This is what Sandi meant about nightmares.' I realised why she had been so panicked, that day at the hospital, trying to get Seto calmed down right away. I wondered, briefly, whether getting the IV needle out had been such a big deal after all. Finally, I opened my eyes again and headed back down the hallway to my own room, not wanting to appear as though I had been eavesdropping—the ironic thing was that I hadn't been, for once. I'd been far too horrified to even think about listening in on the Kaiba brothers' conversation.

Once back in my room, my mind flicked back to the expression Seto's eyes had held in that minute after he had woken, in the second before he had rolled from the bed and they had cleared. Sheer panic. Fear. Pain. Most of all, those eyes had been _familiar_. I recognized that expression—I'd seen it throughout my late childhood, first when my dad had beat me, and then later when I'd joined the gang. Looking into those eyes…for a brief second, it had felt as though I was looking back to my own self of four years ago. Thirteen: angry, bewildered, scared, and hurt. I realised, suddenly, just how deeply Seto's scars ran. He had never gotten over what had happened, had never learned how—he had simply shoved it into the darkest corners of his mind, and let the bitterness and anger seep into his core, until that was all that the world saw.

But I didn't believe that that was all that there was to Seto Kaiba. Not anymore. Never again would I assume that what people chose to show the world was what they were really like inside. 'I should have known from the beginning,' I realised. 'Seto Kaiba isn't the only one hiding his past.' I cringed guiltily, thinking of how even after Seto had told me everything, I had given him nothing of myself. The best I had been able to do was recite my story to him when he was sleeping.

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"I want you to stop hiding."

Yeah, right. Maybe I should take some of my own advice to heart, for once.

I sighed, and shook my head. I sat down on the edge of the huge bed that dominated the centre of my room, and rested my head in my palms, trying to forget the image that I now worried was permanently scorched into my brain. With a sinking feeling in my stomach, I wondered if I even _wanted_ Seto to stop hiding, really. I tried to think of what that would mean…but could only come up with a vague sense of horror. I couldn't fathom what hurts were locked inside Seto Kaiba's heart and mind, what unspeakable memories he had suppressed and hidden from the general public for years. What he had hidden from even his own brother….

I felt sick, remembering how I had thrown insults at him, laughed in his face, been almost disappointed when Yuugi hadn't finished him off at Duellist Kingdom….

The only thing that had kept me going through the years since my mom had moved out had been friendship, through one form or another. Friendship was the only reason I wasn't dead, or incarcerated, or still bullying kids like Yuugi. How had Seto coped—forget coped…how had he _lived_?

I remembered Yuugi asking Sandi about scars on Seto's arm, remembered the story of how Seto had tried to kill himself at nine, and felt horror flood me again. But no, I realised, Seto wouldn't have tried to kill himself again, not once he had taken on the responsibility of raising Mokuba.

And that was it, that was the reason, staring me in the face. Mokuba. I felt tears spring unbidden to my eyes at the thought of what Mokuba's illness must mean to Seto, and swiped at them angrily. I didn't cry. I hadn't cried in years…. Crying was for babies, I knew that. But suddenly, inexplicably, I found myself sobbing, my shoulders heaving and eyes stinging and nose running for the boy whom I had hated for so long, for having so much which I hadn't had…and for the sudden realisation that he had had even less than me.

More than pity, I felt sorrow. And so I was crying, shedding the tears which Seto had bottled up and hid from the world for so long. Because I knew, suddenly, that if Mokuba died…that his brother would too.

That one thought cut me deeper than anything else ever had, and for the life of me, I couldn't understand why, even as I sobbed until I had no tears left; and even then, hiccoughs continued to escape my chest, my eyes squeezed shut.

It must have been at least two hours later, maybe more, when I finally pulled myself together enough to stagger to the washroom and rinse the tears from my face, scrubbing at my red face with a fluffy hand towel. Setting the towel down, I looked at myself in the mirror and sighed. Searching my own brown eyes for answers, I wondered to myself whether I really wanted to know what Seto Kaiba hid…whether I truly did want him to stop hiding. The answer was clear, even though the tears would seem to contradict it: yes, I did. I didn't know exactly why I did…but I knew that I wanted to know—had to know—what hid behind that icy façade.

I needed to find Seto. Talk to him. 'Why?' part of me said accusingly, 'Don't you think he might just need to be alone right now?' I sighed. That was probably true. If he was busy working, I decided, or appeared to be, I would leave him alone. With that in mind, I splashed my face with cold water one last time, giving it a final pat with the towel, and cautiously started down the hallway towards Seto's office. It was strange, I mused, or, rather, predictably "Kaiba", that his room was connected to his office, like bathrooms were normally connected to bedrooms. I wondered if he'd re-modelled the bathroom into his bedroom, and re-furbished the bedroom so that it was his office. I wouldn't put it past him. (Despite myself, I smiled a little at the thought.) Steeling myself before the door, I knocked, and when there was no answer, carefully opened the door and peered inside, blinking in surprise at the sight of the screensaver (a slideshow of pictures of Mokuba), but no Seto sitting in the chair before the lit computer screen. For a brief moment, worry made me bite my lip, but I pushed it aside—Seto had to be somewhere in the mansion. Or on the grounds…. I groaned a little at the thought of scouring the entire place.

'If I was Seto Kaiba,' I thought to myself, 'where would I go?' I assumed he'd been preoccupied, perhaps just meaning to be gone for a short while, seeing as how he'd left his computer running. Making coffee wouldn't take that long, neither would going to the bathroom…unless of course he hadn't been gone for very long. I frowned. It seemed like he'd been gone for a while, though, I thought—and to confirm my suspicions, the quietly-humming computer made a whirring sound, and the screen went dark as it went into stand-by mode. So he'd been gone for a while then, longer than expected…. But the problem of where he would go still remained. I sighed; I really hated having no clue what Seto was thinking. It was so hard to be an intuitive friend when he was so closed.

Well…if I couldn't think of where _he_ would go…what would _I_ do? It was a better place to start than nowhere, I thought.

Usually, if I wanted to think, wanted some time by myself, I went to the park…but why would Seto go to the park when he had his own fancy shmancy garden, field, pond, and woods all right in his back yard?

Was Seto Kaiba the outdoorsy type? I wondered, and then shrugged. Only one way to find out.

Thinking of the huge grounds awaiting me, I sighed. This was going to take a while….

****

-o-

An hour later, maybe more, I reached the edge of the forest; for a brief moment, I hesitated, before plunging into the shady trees and calling Seto's name once more.

"Seto, Seto, are you here?" I yelled, peering up into the tangled branches above. "SETO?"

Suddenly, in a small flurry of leaves that I was sure he meant to cause, he dropped down in front of me, right out of a tree. I gaped at him, speechless. He grinned back.

"How long have you been up there?" I demanded, my mind reeling, wondering as to why his mood seemed to have changed so drastically, and he blinked.

"I don't know," was his reply. I scrutinized him, disbelieving.

"What were you doing up in a tree?" I insisted. "Seto Kaiba climbs trees now?"

"It's not very hard to do. It's like doing chin-ups, but it's rougher on the hands. And requires more balance. …And in answer to your first question, I was thinking about what you said earlier."

"What was that?"

"You said you wanted me to stop hiding," he said, and my confusion evaporated. "And I've decided," he said; I stared at him blankly, sure that he was going to tell me that there was no way in hell he was going to open up to a hypocrite. "I'm not going to hide anymore. So I'm thinking I'm going to be a little less silent than usual."

Slowly, his words dawned on me, and my expression stretched into a grin. "I've noticed that your dinner table could use some conversation," I joked. Seto's answering smile was hesitant, but there. My grin widened.

Seto's grin wavered, and a confused expression took its place. "So that's it? No Hallelujah chorus? No gruelling interview about what made me change my mind? Nothing?" His tone was befuddled. I cocked my head, also a bit confused.

"Why would I do that? …Did you want me to badger you about it?" I frowned at my suggestion. That didn't make any sense….

"Well…I would have thought that you would wonder why I had suddenly reversed my way of doing things. If not out of doubt of my sincerity, then at least out of that insatiable curiosity that you have," was Seto's answer.

I shrugged. "I'm not going to look a gift horse in the mouth," I said. "Besides, it's just not something friends do—you don't demand to know why they had a sudden change of heart. You're just glad that they did." I smiled a little at my proclamation, knowing that it was true. Of course I wondered why—and I was amazed that my voice shook so little from the shock that I felt inside. But what I'd said was true; if Seto Kaiba said that he was willing to try to be my friend, I wasn't going to call him out on it. Especially since I was still feeling a little guilty about being such a hypocrite and Seto not seeming to notice.

I thought about this as we walked back to the mansion together. Mostly, I'd been relieved when Seto hadn't accused me of holding anything back; but a small part of me had been…disappointed, I realised. At least a bit of me had wanted someone to talk to about my past, someone to confess to. I bit my lip as Seto went through the complicated security protocol to access his own back door. Should I tell him? It was only fair, and after when he'd just said, about wanting to be my friend…I felt like I should give him some token to show…what? My appreciation? My guarantee that I wasn't going to let him down or use him? My vulnerability? I opened my mouth, and closed it as the last phrase went through my mind, and sighed a bit.

I couldn't do it. I just couldn't. Just as much as Seto had been moulded into the Kaiba that he was now by Gozaburou's "training", so had I been shaped by the years under my father's tyranny and gang rule. _Never let anyone see your weak points_ had been my motto for so long. It was hard to just shrug it off.

I came out of my trance and realised that Seto was staring at me, a confused expression on his face as he held the door open for me. "Jö?" he asked. "Are you coming in?"

"Yeah, yeah," I said. "I was just lost in thought was all…."

He gave me another one of those crooked smiles, and I felt something inside of me dislodge at the sight of it. I grinned hesitantly back, and followed Seto inside, wondering why I'd felt the sudden desire to hold him close.

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to be continued…


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